I was so excited I thought my heart was going to burst through my chest. It was early August, and I was booking airline tickets to Disney World for March 2014. This was my skydiving and bungee jumping all into one. I have been to Disney World 16 times and it had been 4 years since I had been there with my wife Laura, and now we were coming with our children Claire and James. But booking the airline tickets was the easy part.
Our daughter Claire has a severe dairy allergy. If a milk product touches her skin it can cause immediate hives. If she consumes enough of a milk product she can go into anaphylactic shock. Now imagine the many danger spots that someone with such a severe allergy could encounter while at Disney World.
Here are some tips on how to best plan your vacation with allergy needs.
Step 1:
Call Disney! So I dialled the 407 W -DISNEY line and talked with dining reservations. We were planning on booking the meal plan, and we wanted to take Claire to some character dinners. After listening contently to the theme park waiting music, I was put on to a cheerful Cast Member and explained our situation. I wasn’t ready to book anything I just wanted to hear what Disney would do for us.
I was politely informed that no matter where we ate quick service or table service if we informed the server of the allergy the chef would come out to our table and discuss with us a safe and alternative meal that Claire could enjoy. I called Disney on many different days for several weeks and always got the same answer. Disney, as I was told, takes the health of their guests seriously.
Step 2:
Research! I always start my Disney World vacation by buying the newest edition of Birnbaum’s Guide to Walt Disney World. Laura and I know all about Disney World, and we always read up before our trips; for this trip I thought it was especially important to research. It was fun, and the 2014 Birnbaum guide was very helpful by letting us read about and find the best restaurants for our family. After reading Birnbaum’s guide we learned about www.gardengrocer.com. This online grocery store allows anyone to pre-order their food and it will be shipped to your Disney room on the day you arrive. Since we were staying at Fort Wilderness with a full kitchen we would now always have safe meals for Claire. It never hurts to have a back up plan.
Step 3:
Do more research! I don’t ever want anything bad to happen to my kids. I have been extra vigilant for Claire, because I don’t want her to go through an allergy attack if I can avoid it. My wife and I wanted to hear some stories from people in our situation on how their vacation went. On www.godairyfree.org, a special section devoted to vacations at Disney World had testimonials from people and their experiences with their children with allergies. We were so pleased to learn that multiple people had an excellent time, and no allergy attacks. We also read about certain foods that Claire could and could not eat. For example, the chefs could make a special dairy and egg free version of the world famous Mickey Mouse waffles. Plus multiple restaurants had dairy and egg free brownies for desert, and they had Enjoy Life cookies that were also egg and dairy free. Claire could still enjoy some of the treats that Disney World had to offer. We also learned about some problems that people had at restaurants. For example the atmosphere at some World Showcase restaurants made some parents uneasy because they couldn’t see their child’s food all that well. Even with a Disney guarantee, any parent of a child with a severe allergy is always going to double check what comes from a restaurant kitchen. This helped us to avoid potential trouble spots.
We had an itinerary and now all we had to do was book the trip. So I called Disney and listened to that wonderful theme park music that keeps you company while on hold. When the line clicked I booked our trip. There is nothing more exciting for me then booking a Disney World trip. We just hoped everything would go ok for Claire.