Our family loves Disney World. We love it for all the usual reasons, the charcters, the rides, the warm weather, and of course, the Disney magic.
What we didn’t realize was how much we would appreciate how allergy-aware Disney is. It is one of the few places we feel comfortable dining out with our kids who both manage food allergies.
This past fall was our second trip, and we learned a lot about navigating food allergies in all 4 parks.
For the first trip, admittedly, I was very nervous. My husband and I have two young children (ages 4 & 2 at the time). The idea of navigating food for an entire week away from our home was truly intimidating. We rarely eat out as it can be so challenging to find a restaurant that can truly accommodate us.
One of my kiddos is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. The sensitivity level is so severe that even cross-contact is a concern. This adds to the challenge of eating away from home.
I also wondered how we would manage people eating the allergens in the park. Would we have to wipe down rides? How would it work?
Here is what we learned and how we managed.
1. Expect to See Your Allergens…Everywhere
If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be this:
Be prepared, not surprised.
This helped reduce my anxiety about interacting in a park where thousands of people are constantly eating. We were prepared to encounter allergens, not surprised.
You will see people actively eating your child’s allergens or find your child’s allergens on the ground/benches/railings/etc. And you will likely encounter this a lot.
For example, we were in our first queue line for a the ride on the Teacups at Magic Kingdom. A woman who was not in line came up to the railing to speak to the people she knew. These people happened to be right in front of us.
She put her hand into her bag, pulled out a Costco-sized bag of trail mix (full of peanuts), and proceeded to place handfuls of the trail mix into at least 4 people’s hands in front of us.
In a matter of seconds, the peanut oil was on their hands. There are peanuts being dropped on the ground.
Sigh.
Well, that’s just great.
Instead of panicking, which I wanted to do, I simply picked up my kiddo and held him for a bit. The reality was that the peanuts were not going to jump over into my kid’s mouth.
However, getting them on shoes or touching the oil on the railings was definitely a concern.
I could have advocated at that moment, but the situation was difficult. What could I have them do at that point? We’re all stuck in a queue line. The peanuts were already on the ground, and there was no trash can nearby. The oil was already all over their hands.
Perhaps I could have asked them to wipe up, but how many others had already eaten peanuts in the line, touched the railing, etc?
Instead, our family opted not to touch or lean on the railings. Carefully, we stepped over the peanuts covering the floor. And we stayed calm.
We hadn’t expected to encounter the allergens so quickly into our experience, but we knew that we would. We had prepared ourselves mentally so that we were not surprised.
2. Bring All The Wipes
We burn through wipes when we are at Disney World. They give us peace of mind if we are unsure or uncomfortable about a situation.
For example, because in the teacup line I actively saw people eating my kids’ allergens, I did choose to quickly wipe the turning wheel of the teacup and our seat before we climbed in as a family as an extra precaution. I kept a pack of wet wipes in a fanny pack or backpack (along with EpiPens) and brought that on rides with us.
If I see actual food crumbs, we choose a different ride car. I’ve only had this happen once and I advocated to an employee and they quickly switched us.
In full honesty, we saw at least one person actively eating some type of nut in EVERY queue line.
In all 4 parks and I wish I was exaggerating. Trail mix, planters peanuts, peanut butter crackers, peanut butter M&M’s, almonds, pistachios, etc., you name it, if it was a nut product we saw it.
So instead of panicking, I simply checked for food on the actual ride car we were climbing into. If I saw no food, I quickly wiped down high-touch areas before my kids climbed in. If I felt like it was needed, I used our Suds2Go portable hand washing system to quickly clean hands.
3. The Disney App
You will use the Disney app quite a bit on your trip to Disney but one of the ways we used it the most was to preview menus at both quick service locations and restaurants.
I am a planner so I previewed the menus’s ahead of our trip so that I knew what to expect in each park before we got there. This also gave me a sense of what is also in the kitchen so I could assess my comfort level with that location.
Most of the restaurants and quick service locations have a specific allergy menu for the Top 9 allergens so you can see what is available for your needs.
I was able to organize ahead of time what treats, snacks, and meals I thought would be a good fit for our family so that I wasn’t trying to figure this out on the fly while we were in the parks.
You will also see an option for mobile-orders for quick service. I do not recommend using this when you are ordering for food allergies especially on busy days. Mistake’s can happen and as good as Disney is, people are human and food allergies have very serious consequences.
For my personal comfort level, we prefer to speak directly with someone about allergy menus, and ask some key questions like if there is a separate preparation area in the kitchen. For our family, cross-contact is an issue so we do need to work with who is preparing the food to make sure this location is right for us.
Many quick service locations have a special allergy area of the kitchen and we prefer to eat at those.
4. Binders and Labels
Did you know that all kiosks and quick service restaurants are equipped with a binder or labels that lists all the ingredients in the products?
It’s awesome especially for family’s who manage allergens that are not in the Top 9.
When determining if a snack is safe for your family, you can go up to the kiosk and ask for the allergy binder or to see a label. Every single time I asked, the attendant pulled out the binder and helped me check the ingredients. This was especially helpful for products that didn’t have a label, like a Mickey Pretzel.
When products have a label, like the Mickey ice cream bars, you can request to see the label first as this is the most accurate information you can have.
The risk with the allergy-binder is if it’s out-of-date so if you can get your hands on a label, this is the most up-to-date information.
We had a question on a menu item at a quick-service restaurant and the manager went back to the kitchen and had a full binder of all of the ingredients for that specific meal so we could review it together. It was so nice to speak with people who clearly had been trained in how to work with guests with food allergies!
5. Look For What Else is Being Served
Be mindful of cross-contact, especially at the kiosks. For example, not every kiosk serves the same group of items. In one part of Magic Kingdom, they served a celebratory peanut-dusted churro for the 50th anniversary celebration. We chose not to eat from any kiosks in that area.
If I determined a snack item was safe, I would also check what else that kiosk was serving. If they were also serving roasted nuts, that would be a no-go for us because the cross-contact risk would be too high.
Therefore, we would search for that snack at another kiosk that wasn’t serving roasted nuts.
Based on your allergy needs, being aware of what is being served from that specific vendor can help avoid potential issues. Depending on your specific needs, simply asking the attendant to change gloves may be enough.
This issue is also why it is important to speak with the chef in quick service or restaurants. They can help you understand any cross-contact concerns and their protocols in that specific kitchen so you can make an informed decision for your family.
6. Eating at the Restaurants
Eating out at the restaurants is one of my favorite experiences about Disney World. With few exceptions, we rarely eat out at a restaurant as a family because of our food allergy needs.
Disney World is operating on an ENTIRELY different level as far as food allergy awareness in the best way and it is a true blessing to our family.
A few tips about the restaurants would include previewing the menu on the Disney app ahead of time so you can decide where you want to eat.
You can make your reservations up to 60 days in advance and right on your reservation you can include your specific food allergy needs, the form will ask you if you have any food allergies. This is great because it gets the ball rolling.
It is good to confirm again with the seating hostess, and then again with your specific waiter.
But here is my biggest rule – always ask for the Chef to come to the table.
This is non-negotiable for our family and Disney is very accommodating to this. Your meal will take longer, but hey, the comfort of having the chef walk you through your specific needs and what they can prepare is more than worth it.
You will meet incredible wait staff and many of them will make you feel confident that there will be no issues. You might hear things like, “We don’t have any peanuts or tree nuts on the whole menu.”
It is tempting to bypass speaking with the chef at that moment because you think the allergens aren’t even in the kitchen.
We highly encourage you to speak with the chef.
Especially in this semi post-Covid era, suppliers change on a dime. What might have worked yesterday in a restaurant may not work for you today based on the supplier.
We all know that labels change and ingredients and manufacturing processes change. At the restaurant level, the menu can change like sometimes there are specials running that aren’t usually there and in the kitchen.
My point is, as great as so many wait staff can be, you need to speak directly with the person who is preparing the food. They know what is current in the kitchen at that moment and on that day.
The chef can also discuss cross-contact concerns with you and any allergy protocols they have in the kitchen.
Disney World was fantastic about having the chef come out to speak with us and advise what would be a good menu item. So don’t be shy about asking.
7. Stay Vigilant
You get to have fun on vacation and Disney is truly a wonderful place to kick back and enjoy with your family.
Even when relaxing though, don’t let up on your basic safety rules.
You should have the EpiPen with you at all times. I do not recommend leaving your EpiPen locked in a locker or waiting in a bag while on rides. You CAN take small backpacks or fanny packs (I guess they call them “cross-body bags now” haha but I grew up in the 90s), on the rides. We do it for every single ride. Don’t get separated from the EpiPen.
Hand washing before eating is another easy way to prevent issues and it is a rule we have at home, so we have it at Disney too. We bring our Suds2Go with us (it’s a small portable handwashing system), so that we can quickly wash hands anywhere if needed.
Remember that as good as Disney is, people are human and make mistakes. It’s so important to advocate, ask questions, and follow your usual rules.
For us, we always speak to the chef in a restaurant. I personally know a family that ate a meal at Disney World, and was told that there were no peanuts or tree nuts on the entire menu. As a result, they did not speak with the chef like they normally do.
They were accidentally served chocolate-covered peanut butter balls for dessert because a special was on the menu that normally isn’t there, which their peanut-allergic daughter unknowingly ate. This resulted in a trip to the ER.
Thankfully, she was okay, but the experience was very scary for her and her family.
We learned from them and I’ll say it one more time, always ask to speak to the chef.
8. You Can Bring a Cooler
Disney World allows you to bring a small cooler into the park. We loved this because we could fill it up each morning with safe food for my kiddos and head to the park.
This alleviated the pressure to find food in the park because we knew that if we weren’t comfortable with the food options, we had our own safe food.
Additionally, I never worried about my kids getting hungry and us not having a safe option because we had it with us the whole time.
This switched our mentality in how we approached food in the park. It allowed us to have fun finding new things to try rather than desperately needing to find food.
We were able to take our time and find fun food options in the park that we felt comfortable trying, which we did!
I highly recommend bringing a cooler of safe options for your family even if you’re planning on eating in the park.
There are some rules for bringing in a cooler. Mainly it has to be smaller than specific dimensions and they want you to use ice packs, not loose ice.
Click here for the specific guidelines to bringing a cooler at Disney World.
Bringing our own food also helps us to keep costs down while we are in the parks each day!
9. EpiPen Safety Reminder
The number one thing you must bring with you to Disney World is the EpiPen.
Here are a couple tips for EpiPen management at the parks.
Reminder, heat can damage epinephrine. It’s important to keep the epis at room temperature. One way to do this while out in the sun all day at Disney is to use an insulated case.
We love Frio Bags and Allermates.
Another reminder is to keep your epi with you at all times. We have a rule that we NEVER leave the epi in a locker, cubby, or with the stroller. It’s on us at all times.
The first reason is we never want to need it and not have it immediately on hand.
Secondly, people could accidentally (or on purpose I guess) take your bag. Then you don’t have epis, which is a huge problem.
We also don’t use the lockers because they can get very hot. We don’t want a scenario where we lose the key and can’t get the epi, or that we need the epi and the locker is on the other side of the park.
The way we maneuvered through the parks with the epis was to keep them in a fanny pack (to go on the rides) or in a small backpack. A lot of families like SpiBelts as well, which allows you to carry the epi under your clothes.
You will need to go through security to get into each park as well as Disney Springs and I want to reassure you that we had zero issues going through security at the parks with our EpiPens. We had multiple sets for each kid along with Zyrtec and it was no issue.
10. Managing Multiple Allergies or Non-Top 9 Allergens
For those of you managing allergens that are within the Top 9, you will find lots of menus that specifically spell out right on the menu what food items are suitable for which food allergies.
We know and appreciate that managing food allergies that are not in the Top 9, or managing more one Top 9 food allergy, or a combination of both, can present additional challenges.
My best advice for you would be that you can actually contact Disney ahead of your trip. There is a special email that you can write to about your specific food allergy needs and get some help, support, and guidance directly from Disney prior to your visit.
Here is Disney’s link to Special Dietary Needs and you will see the email here.
We highly recommend that you take advantage of this service so that you can go into your trip with confidence.
Disney really can be a magical place for families with food allergies and we hope this helped you navigate it a bit better.
As always, we’re here for you and cheering you on!
-Lauren
What to Read Next: So Baby Has A Food Allergy…5 Next Steps
Leave a Reply