Managing Food Allergies at Disney: A Dietitian Mom’s Experience

This is the telling of our experience to show humanness, and to share reflections on my thoughts for “what it was like” to go to Disney World from the perspective of a food allergy parent. This is not medical advice).

Disney.

I mean, it truly is one of the most magical places on earth! And as a mom, it feels even more magical after our recent family trip to Disney World!

Hi! I am Katie: registered dietitian and food allergy mom.

I am privileged to have been to Disney World multiple times in my life. This most recent trip, however, was the first time I was actually nervous to go to Disney. You see, the majority of times I had been to Disney was when I was a kid myself. This most recent trip, I was going as a mom. Not just any mom: a mom with a child with multiple food allergies (dairy, egg, tree-nut). My mind (understandably so) went to the logistical details of how would we pull this off and keep our little guy safe, and have a good “normal” time.

Since my son had been diagnosed with food allergies, we just haven’t traveled as much. Many food allergy moms can relate to this. There are so many more unknowns with traveling. My inner thoughts are: “How we will pack all his safe foods? Where can we find safe foods for him at our destination? Will our destination be safe for food preparation and eating? Will he be unknowingly exposed to his food allergens through cross contact?”

How we prepared weeks before the trip:

Like most food allergy moms do before leaving on a trip, you research where you are going. Our son is actually cared for by friend and colleague: Lisa Woodruff, RD. To start off our research, I shared my concerns with Lisa in one of our son’s appointments. Lisa was/is a wealth of knowledge on all things food allergies which is her area of expertise! I specialize in other areas, and I think it is important that “mentors have mentors” so we sought out her advice. She had credible resources to share and the conversation with her is always wonderful, insightful, helpful; plus, Lisa has a calming presence. Her balance of listening, sharing wisdom, and providing useful details is spot on!

My sister also discovered that the Disney experience app had a feature in which one can mobile order foods. In the process of mobile ordering, you are able to view if an item is “dairy free” for example. I studied this app to learn about our choices and it is noteworthy to share that you don’t have to click “place order” and just utilize the app for browsing.

I also used some of Lisa’s resources to map out in advance some places to eat that could accommodate all of our son’s food allergies. Our family decided that we didn’t want to have overly structured park days, so we picked a few places at each theme park that had menu items our son could enjoy. Our philosophy on this vacation was to have a game plan, but also able to live in the moment so the trip could be spontaneous.

How we prepared days before the trip:

In the final days leading up to departure, we purchased some prepackaged bars for those “I need a snack right now” moments. (Our son was 3 on this trip). Well…I learned we probably should have purchased more food to bring with us in our bags. We did not need more food for Disney World, because Disney had ample selections, but rather the airports! Both airports we flew out of (Indianapolis and Orlando), had very limited selections to accommodate dairy/egg/tree-nut allergies. I should add the sparse selection was in terms of what we could quickly find for our son without having planned. We did not anticipate having to research food options at major airports. Our son ended up eating many of the prepackaged foods at the airport and on the airplane ride to Disney World. Lesson learned! We will remember to research airport food in advance.

I had planned on doing this action step: Ordering safe food on Amazon to be delivered to our hotel room. My understanding is people will deliver food/snacks/water bottles to their hotel room to help keep costs down. We ended up forgoing this but may do this on future trips.

Some do not know this so I will share that Disney allows visitors to bring in food and drinks to their parks (at least leading up to July 2022). We brought our clear backpack with us that has his Epi-pens in plain sight and easy to grab should we need to. I noticed other families carrying in water bottles and snacks, which is a cost effective idea. We could have easily packed more drinks and snacks to bring into the theme parks with us.

What “was it like” at Disney

Let me start off this part by saying: wow! Disney knocks it out of the park! EVERY SINGLE kiosk, hotel restaurant, theme park quick service, etc. we visited to order something for our son had a streamlined food allergy procedure (which made me feel so safe and comfortable for him to eat here).

• Here is what happened across the board:
• Every time we ordered and announced our son’s food allergy, my experience was the staff immediately grabbed a food allergy binder and efficiently summoned a designated food allergy staff member for the venue we were at. It appeared each restaurant had their own trained food allergy liaison.
• The designated food allergy staff member helped us take our order. They walked us through the food allergy binder to show us all of the ingredients. These binders had excellent details that spoke to all the menu items and their respective ingredients.
• Each food allergy staff member assured us that our food was being prepared in a special food allergy area and personally took the order to the designated separate area where the food was prepared (if/when it needed preparation). At the sit down restaurants, we were offered to speak to the chef.
• Next, the food came out on a special colored tray different from all the other trays. This happened at the “quick service” cafeteria style venues.
• Our son’s food always came out with a special marker in it to designate that this was food that needed extra love and care. The picture for this blog post shows the allergy flag. This allergy flag was consistent at every food venue we visited for non-packaged foods.

The consistent start to finish process made me feel that my son was safe, meaning in my eyes his risk of allergen exposure or risk of cross contact was low. I was just amazed that each and every place we visited had the same hardwired process. No one ever made us feel like we were being annoying or helicopter parents when we brought up his food allergies while ordering. He or she genuinely listened and took time to take the food order. We were never rushed. It was some damn good customer service; Disney food service has my highest recommendation in terms of overall customer experience.

“Parent to Parent” Tips
While researching a Disney trip is beneficial, you could kind of “wing it” and trust that they have you covered as each venue appears to have a protocol in place for major food allergens. The Disney experience app will also be your best friend on the trip so you can easily locate foods that align with your child’s food allergy needs.

I also wanted to add that I noticed at a few hotels (Contemporary and Animal Kingdom Lodge) that the brand “Enjoy Life” packaged foods were available for purchase in the lobby convenience stores. We ended up buying a few boxes to keep in our son’s stroller (since what we had packed was dipped into at the airport).

Overall, the trip exceeded my expectations in terms of how Disney sprinkles magic into the navigating food allergies throughout all of Disney World. My intent is that sharing our experience helps other food allergy families know that it is possible to have a safe, enjoyable time at Disney World.

Your food allergy vacation dreams really can come true!

Not medical advice. Personal blog post.