News Tiana’s Palace Coming to Disneyland Later this Year

[Californian Elitist]

You know who would be great to ask about this? Our friend @Parteecia

She worked at Casa de Fritos in the 1970's and rose to become was a shift supervisor there. I wonder if she ever remembers Moms coming in and asking about Soy Allergy or Sesame Allergy or Tree Nut Allergy menu options for the tacos and salads there? Surely a sweetheart of a firecracker who could tell guests they kept Walt's frozen head in the back freezer would have a line or two for the allergy options.

Any insight from the old memory banks on guests asking about food allergies in the 70's, dear Parteecia?

And she wouldn’t know either. That was the 70s. What about the late 60s, 80s, and up to 1996?

It can’t be proven. I’m done now.

 

[TP2000]

It can’t be proven. I’m done now.

A fascinating take to use as a rebuttal for someone who dared to remember the past.

 

[TP2000]

Jumping in between the menu discussion -

New theming looks nice. Menu looks like there are a few interesting options, but the price may put me off. I'll decide when I actually see the food in person.

The interior looks to be a HUGE improvement.

The French Market was always the weakest themed restaurant in NOS, in my opinion. As it was, it was the lowly "buffeteria" place that just existed to move people fast through the line. It's real charm was outside on the patio with the jazz bands playing under the trees.

But the interior was bland and basically "themed". This new Tiana's Palace version seems to be a great upgrade for that facility.

 

[MarvelCharacterNerd]

It actually rather reminds me of Jolly Holiday - a light IP-driven thematic overlay that doesn't seem to negatively impact what was already there and functional.

A simple, pretty upgrade. (Based on what we've seen so far.)

 

[__r.jr]

D23 has also shared some photos from inside the restaurant.

I see two, personal, discrepancies here.

The first being the repainting of the brick work now being bland. It’s to match the exterior color palette but at the expense of the textured finish of the original.

The second is this movie backdrop that appears to be printed. What it replaced was the Louisiana Purchase mural that was transcribed by ceramic tiles. A veneer of historical connection to the space now gone.

 

[Doberge]

this looks great! i hope FL gets its own Tianas Palace as well.

Disney announced a Tiana table service restaurant for Reflections. It was a weird choice for the site considering they still have Port Orleans to put a Tiana food place, either quick service into Sassagoula Floatworks (hopefully not, I like it the way it is) or table service into Boatwrights (better option, imo).

 

[Figments Friend]

What the….
Why is there a ‘limit 10 per person’ limit on the Ray Glow Cubes…??

10….?.?
How about TWO per person…??

10!
eBay flippers paradise…..that is what that is.
I thought Disney was trying to crack down on the resellers.
Apparently not…..by the looks of this.



-

 

[Parteecia]

Couldn't begin to know/explain why, but every year as a teacher there's a healthy contingent of kids that have allergies or food restrictions. Usually peanuts and treenuts, but there's always several.

Adults aren't immune either. I've known a few people who, as adults, suddenly found that their body could no longer tolerate gluten.

Sometimes people bring their own stuff to compensate, but I really think it's more considerate as a host to ask about, and accommodate for, allergies in advance, rather than expect people with dietary needs to fend for themselves where food is concerned (assuming that it's an ingredient that's easy to plan around and/or excise from the menu).

I think it's great that Disney is proactive in offering menu items for people with food allergies, and works with guests that have restrictions so that everyone has something they can eat and enjoy. That sounds like ACTUAL World Class Guest Service to me!

It was hard enough to find food as a supertaster - that whole Tiana menu is out - but now that I have to eat keto too it's nearly impossible.

 

[Nunu]

I missed that one, but that's a classic.

This thought occurred to me when looking at the new Tiana's Palace menu... how did all these people get so many food allergies? There's a separate Tiana's Palace menu for the following allergies;

Gluten/Wheat Allergy Menu
Egg Allergy Menu
Fish/Shellfish Allergy Menu
Milk Allergy Menu
Peanut/Tree Nut Allergy Menu
Soy Allergy Menu
Sesame Allergy Menu

I'm baffled. I'm an old guy, I've had a lot of friends over the decades, and I've loved to throw dinner parties and attend dinner parties. I have never known anyone who had a food allergy, much less voice that need to a host or hostess. In decades of hosting I've never even asked my guests if they're allergic to shrimp in the canape's, or milk in the potatoes dauphinoise, or sesame seeds on the July 4th barbecue hamburger buns. And no one has ever asked me.

There's a part of me that thinks it's really great that Disney offers these options. But then there's a part of me that is absolutely baffled that all these food allergies now exist and in my entire life I've never known a single person with any of them, much less had a party guest say "Does the pan sauce you are serving with the steak au poivre have soy sauce in it? I have a soy allergy."

Who are all these folks with all these food allergies, and how did we not know about them just 15 years ago???

Dining Menu

disneyland.disney.go.com

I only know one person between my family and circle of friends who's on a gluten-free diet, and that's because she has Celiac disease.

I'm not from the US, where I'm from, what you hear the most about in regards to special dietary needs, is diabetes.

Oh, and at most restaurants down here, aside from a few vegetarian dishes, there's no separate menus catering to specific diets.

 

[Parteecia]

You know who would be great to ask about this? Our friend @Parteecia

She worked at Casa de Fritos in the 1970's and rose to become was a shift supervisor there. I wonder if she ever remembers Moms coming in and asking about Soy Allergy or Sesame Allergy or Tree Nut Allergy menu options for the tacos and salads there? Surely a sweetheart of a firecracker who could tell guests they kept Walt's frozen head in the back freezer would have a line or two for the allergy options.

Any insight from the old memory banks on guests asking about food allergies in the 70's, dear Parteecia?

I'll take the bait. The difference is now the company is proactively informing rather than requiring people to ask. Maybe because Legal is more risk averse these days?

I remember people inquiring in regard to issues and we did our best to help them. This informal method did result in the servers being told to offer rice and beans to vegetarians by the Line Lead and, upon transferring to the kitchen, finding out that the beans were made with bacon drippings.

 

[TP2000]

I'll take the bait.

I'm so glad that you did. You really are the Subject Matter Expert when it comes to Mid-To-Late 20th Century Food Service at Disneyland.

Whether you like it or not.

The difference is now the company is proactively informing rather than requiring people to ask. Maybe because Legal is more risk averse these days?

I imagine you are right. Legal and lawyers got involved, which forced companies to put the onus on themselves instead of their customers.

I remember people inquiring in regard to issues and we did our best to help them.

That's what I expected, from our shared Lived Experiences as young adults in the 1960's and 70's. People back then just following the Golden Rule and trying to help as best they can, even if there was no formal training or no formal menu process involved. Or even if it wasn't really all that helpful.

This informal method did result in the servers being told to offer rice and beans to vegetarians by the Line Lead and, upon transferring to the kitchen, finding out that the beans were made with bacon drippings.

And there's the comedy. I knew you'd bring that to our table.

Disneyland Circa 1975: Guest asks for Vegetarian option and the CM offers the Rice & Beans. That are cooked in rendered pork fat.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I'll take the bait. The difference is now the company is proactively informing rather than requiring people to ask. Maybe because Legal is more risk averse these days?

I remember people inquiring in regard to issues and we did our best to help them. This informal method did result in the servers being told to offer rice and beans to vegetarians by the Line Lead and, upon transferring to the kitchen, finding out that the beans were made with bacon drippings.

Thank you for this post.

 

[TP2000]

Oh, and at most restaurants down here, aside from a few vegetarian dishes, there's no separate menus catering to specific diets.

Yes, that's exactly what it was like here in the USA until later in the 2000's, as I remember. But at first it was just about gluten and peanuts.

At Disneyland, they didn't start offering their first formal Allergy Menu until April, 2015.

Which was as I expected. In the 20th century, we didn't talk about food allergies. It just wasn't a thing one would ask of a restaurant hostess or waitress. Or even know about. Much less discuss.

Expecting a Disneyland guest in 1966 to ask a CM about Sesame or Tree Nut allergy menu options would be like asking a guest in 1966 to ask a CM at the Disneyland Hotel front desk about the WiFi password. It just didn't happen.

 

[BrianLo]

Allergies have certainly grown more prevalent in part thanks to the hygiene hypothesis and the growing awareness over the last few decades. In part we now know early introduction of allergenic solids can be partly protective in the atopic child.

Where we seem to be getting some confusion here is around intolerances seen as a "so-called so-cal" lifestyle choice. But people very much do and have had life threatening IgE mediated allergies. The ones noted by Tiana's are very much real. This is all pretty standard training in modern restaurants, you can't step into a cruise ship restaurant without them asking about allergies.

There's a reason Epi Pens have been on the market since 1987. My friend had one in the early 90's and while we think of allergies as trivial, we had a University student die ten years ago on campus. Which otherwise shouldn't happen in today's day and age, it's preventable.

We can glorify the past... but trying not to actively kill guests is a nice thing.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

A fascinating take to use as a rebuttal for someone who dared to remember the past.

No, you're insisting that your anecdotal experience of having never witnessed anybody express a specific health concern in a certain time means that it was unheard of in those days and could not have been tended to . . . which you wouldn't know, since it's clearly something you never asked about in those same times.

You may think it's unlikely, and maybe it is, but that's a different claim than the one you're making.

 

[TP2000]

No, you're insisting that your anecdotal experience of having never witnessed anybody express a specific health concern in a certain time means that it was unheard of in those days and could not have been tended to . . . which you wouldn't know, since it's clearly something you never asked about in those same times.

You may think it's unlikely, and maybe it is, but that's a different claim than the one you're making.

What evidence do you have that Disneyland University training materials in 1966 were instructing CM's how to respond to guest concerns about Tree Nut Allergies or Sesame Allergies or Egg Allergies at their new work location The French Market or The Blue Bayou?

From what I learned, the first Allergy Menu options weren't available publicly at Disneyland until 2015.

My point was that the average Disneyland CM in 1966, when asked about Tree Nut Allergy menu options, wouldn't have a flipping idea what that guest was talking about. Other than to follow the Golden Rule as a kind person (regardless of whether they were employed by Disneyland or not) and try and ask around with their fellow CM's.

French Market, August 1966: "Hey, Jim, I got this guest who is worried about being allergic to peanuts, or so he says. Are there peanuts in the gumbo? Do we use peanuts on the kitchen prep surfaces? Is there a manager that can come out and talk to this guy, cause I don't know..."

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

What evidence do you have that Disneyland University training materials in 1966 were instructing CM's how to respond to guest concerns about Tree Nut Allergies or Sesame Allergies or Egg Allergies at their new work location The French Market or The Blue Bayou?

From what I learned, the first Allergy Menu options weren't available publicly at Disneyland until 2015.

My point was that the average Disneyland CM in 1966, when asked about Tree Nut Allergy menu options, wouldn't have a flipping idea what that guest was talking about. Other than to follow the Golden Rule as a kind person (regardless of whether they were employed by Disneyland or not) and try and ask around with their fellow CM's.

French Market, August 1966: "Hey, Jim, I got this guest who is worried about being allergic to peanuts, or so he says. Are there peanuts in the gumbo? Do we use peanuts on the kitchen prep surfaces? Is there a manager that can come out and talk to this guy, cause I don't know..."

That's not really an accurate restatement of your point as you've been addressing it over the last few pages, so, I'm not gonna be playing this game. Nice try, though.

 

[TP2000]

Allergies have certainly grown more prevalent in part thanks to the hygiene hypothesis and the growing awareness over the last few decades. In part we now know early introduction of allergenic solids can be partly protective in the atopic child..

It wasn't meant to encompass the entirely new phenomenon of 8 different Allergy Menus on offer at Disneyland restaurants.

Which is actually a thing now. Which is fascinating. And regardless of what any young person in the 2020's says, was NOT a thing that happened or was offered at Disneyland in the 20th Century.

We can glorify the past... but trying not to actively kill guests is a nice thing.

No kidding. But I don't think it's fair to imply that Disneyland chefs circa 1966 were actively trying to kill their guests.

I would even go on record as saying that no Disneyland CM of any kind circa 1966 was actively trying to kill park guests.

They just didn't know that people could be allergic to Sesame seeds on hamburger buns back then. None of us knew back then, really.

 

[Nunu]

Yes, that's exactly what it was like here in the USA until later in the 2000's, as I remember. But at first it was just about gluten and peanuts.

At Disneyland, they didn't start offering their first formal Allergy Menu until April, 2015.

Which was as I expected. In the 20th century, we didn't talk about food allergies. It just wasn't a thing one would ask of a restaurant hostess or waitress. Or even know about. Much less discuss.

Expecting a Disneyland guest in 1966 to ask a CM about Sesame or Tree Nut allergy menu options would be like asking a guest in 1966 to ask a CM at the Disneyland Hotel front desk about the WiFi password. It just didn't happen.

I think that certain allergies (like gluten, peanuts or shellfish) have been around for quite a while, but they weren't discussed openly back then.

Back then people ate, got sick and didn't know exactly what it was that made them ill. Medicine has advanced a lot since then. It's a good thing that there's more research and knowledge about allergies these days. That there's an effort from Disney to be aware of this, and that they offer diet-specific menus to guests who need it, is a good thing, imo.

 

[TP2000]

By the way, I love that we had this discussion over a rethemed Disneyland restaurant that should have opened 12 years ago.

I'm sure some precious flower will be offended at adult conversation and differing opinion and diversity of thought and summon a moderator to erase it all, perhaps in the name of food safety, but it was fun while it lasted.

And during some of this discussion, I was watching a 1960's episode of Julia Child on WGBH doing a Chicken En Cocotte. She never washed her hands and re-used utensils after they had touched the raw chicken in 1967. She didn't care. And she lived to be 91 and died of causes other than salmonella. She was truly a national treasure, not afraid to get her hands dirty and get those chicken guts out of the bird.