My older daughter is deathly allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. For the most part, we've had very good experiences at Disney with her allergies. We've had a few issues, but also a number of situations where they've gone the extra mile to make it special. These are the ones I can remember...
1. We were having dinner at Crystal Palace and the chef came out to give us an allergen tour of the buffet...but at the end, he noted that there's not much in the way of desserts that would be OK. HOWEVER- he had made a gluten free chocolate cake for another guest and when he saw us on the allergy list given to the kitchen, he set some aside for her along with some allergy friendly brownies and cookies they keep on hand.
2. Similar experience at 1900 Park Fare, but they brought her this big brownie that was made in house and safe for her allergies. They topped it in all kinds of chocolate sauce and covered it in Mickey sprinkles.
3. We were at Chef Mickey's for breakfast on her 5th birthday. They were already making a big deal out of things for her since we had a big custom cake being delivered to the meal, but the chef went one step further. She noted that my daughter couldn't have the pastries on the buffet, but that the donuts are safe before they are placed on the buffet (cross contamination risk after put next to the pastries). So, she brought us a big plate of safe donuts that were being held back in the kitchen.
4. Back in the days of Starring Rolls, we'd gone in there hoping we could all get sweet treats. Unfortunately, they had nothing safe that hadn't already been exposed to unsafe foods. The girl behind the counter asked me if I'd mind waiting for a bit. It's Disney and good things usually happen when you're OK. We also weren't in a rush, so naturally...we waited. She came back about 10 minutes later with a big Mickey brownie covered in a fudgy topping and candies. She also grabbed a couple of big chocolate dipped mouse ear cookies for our troubles.
It's experiences like this that have me feeling better about my upcoming runcation. Last June, I made some dietary modifications and in the process, I discovered dairy and gluten/wheat intolerance issues. These are far more limiting than DD12 and her nuts. I've perused all of the allergy menus I could find, but I can see that in a number of cases, I'm going to need help from the kitchens doing something custom. I also know from others that some of the allergy friendly options just aren't advertised. It's just hard to plan for this since nutrition before races is pretty important, so I'm probably going to supplement with food shipped to the room.
