Disney in January

Hi Michelle. We will be in WDW in January, too! We are going for New Years and will be there a week. Try the search option up top for Disney. There have been several discussions on WDW. It seems everyone has only had good things to say about their trips. They seem to be very allergy aware. I'm posting you a copy of an e-mail WDW sent me after I e-mailed them about our situation. Someone from this board also gave me the same info. Also, on the bottom is a number for Brenda Bennett. She seems to be the "one" to contact to really get help. I'm going to make all dining arrangements as soon as they will let me. We are going with a huge group. From what I've read, you can make your reservations and they will have the chef from each restaurant call you to make arrangements. We will have fun! Shan [img]http://client.ibboards.com/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
Thank you for your e-mail message.
We appreciate your interest in learning what arrangements might be
possible in our theme park and resort restaurants for guests with
specific dietary restrictions. First, please know that the chefs and
managers in our full-service restaurants are always happy to provide
information regarding not only the ingredients of menu selections, but
also how items are prepared. In many instances, food may be
specially-prepared to accommodate particular dietary restrictions.
It is also sometimes possible for our restaurants to prepare food
items using special ingredients (gluten-free flour, for example). For
this reason, we encourage you to make your particular restriction
known when booking priority seating arrangements for our full-service
restaurants, so that the appropriate notation may be made. Priority
seating may be arranged up to 60 days in advance by calling
407-WDW-DINE (407-939-3463).
If you have specific inquiries or would like recommendations regarding
the food served at the park restaurants, you are welcome to call the
executive chefs or Food and Beverage managers for our theme parks, at
the telephone numbers listed below. If no one is immediately
available when you call, please be sure to leave a message and a
telephone number where you may be reached.
Magic Kingdom Park: 407-824-5967
Epcot: 407-560-7942
Disney-MGM Studios: 407-560-1347
Disney's Animal Kingdom: 407-939-7536 (Please note, no full-service
restaurants in this park are operated by Walt Disney World Co.)
You may also be interested to know that with very few exceptions, our
restaurants use only canola oil in the preparation of our food.
According to our Epcot Executive Chef, canola oil contains the lowest
percentage of saturated fat of all the commonly used cooking oils.
Peanut oil, however, is used in our restaurants featuring oriental
cuisine, because of its higher smoke point. This is an important
consideration for items being stir-fried, for example, as other oils
tend to burn when used at such high temperatures.
We would also like to mention that as an exception to our standard
policy, guests who have specific food allergies are welcome to bring
their own small snack items with them into the theme parks. However,
picnic baskets, ice chests, and coolers are not permitted.
We hope that this information is helpful, and we look forward to
future opportunities to entertain you in our Vacation Kingdom!
Sincerely,
Elisabeth Ledet
Executive Offices
Walt Disney World Resort
Brenda Bennett 407-824-5967
[This message has been edited by Shan (edited July 06, 1999).]

Hi Michelle,
We just got back from Disney in May. We stayed at Dixie Landings Resort, and I will tell you that the food court there (and maybe all the food courts at the resorts) is not the place you want to eat with someone with pa. Every stand with the exception of the pizza stand sells some sort of pnt product, and there are shelled peanuts for sale at the checkout counters. We ended eating at the full service restaurant there almost every night with no problems, although it does get a little expensive. Now the theme parks are a different story. The restaurants in those are very allergy aware, and we ate at Tonys and Columbia House at MK, a hamburger place by the Indiana Jones Theater at MGM, and at the Mexican food restaurant in the world showcase at Epcot with no problems. We went to Universal Studios for two days, and ate there with no problems either. I called the master chefs from each of the parks ahead of time and they were all very good with suggestions. By the way, Animal Kingdom restaurants are not owned by Disney, but they have a McDonalds there and we saw no McFlurrys served there, so we felt safe eating there.
If you need more info, please feel free to e-mail By the way, we flew Southwest to Disney, and I would not suggest flying them. While no pnts were served, they were all over the plane from previous flights. I had to keep my son on my lap the entire flight.
Stay Safe, Debbie

Michelle,
I am a platinum AAdvantage flyer on American Airlines -- have flown over 1 million miles on that airline in the last few years -- and I cannot remember the last time they served peanuts in coach. They always serve pretzels. They do serve mixed nuts in First Class, but it's the "high class" nuts like pistachios and cashews. I don't think there are any peanuts in there, but I could be wrong.
I would call them about the meals. They usually serve yogurt, cereal, bananas and muffins for breakfast. I would avoid the muffin and maybe the cereal. I don't know if they ever serve a peanut product in their lunch and dinner meals -- those menus change. If you're worried about the meals, then don't eat them.
My husband, peanut-allergic child and I are flying to Kansas City in 2 weeks on American and I'm not worried at all.
--Tracy

We flew United in June very successfully. I asked several of the flight attendants and not one could remember when they last served nuts as snacks(they could not tell me about meals). Supposably, United has stopped peanut snacks as of February, 1999.
Good Luck

Michelle, We are flying Delta to WDW this Oct. Our son is not smell sensitive (as far as we know), but I would feel a lot more comfortable if there were no peanuts served on the flight. I will try contacting Delta, but we are stuck with them as the tickets were purchased months ago, long before I found this site. It's only a 2 1/2 flight but will seem a lot longer if I have to hold my son the whole time. A few weeks ago I had to hold him when we went to Red Sox game because there were peanuts everywhere(We only lasted a few innings) Shan, thanks for posting all those phone #'s for WDW. I will be calling before we leave. You guys are great ! Thanks again

For those of you going to Disney soon--have a great time--wish I was going. We went to Disney this past May and had a fine time. We ate 100% of our meals out without incident. I had contacted Brenda Bennett prior to the trip and had also contacted the chefs prior to my trip. I found out on the trip that all of this prior contact was really unnecessary. Not bashing Disney here but, when I called and spoke to the individual chefs they all made notations to fix my son a special meal on a specific day and when we showed up NONE of the chefs seemed to be aware of it. Fortunately, it was not a problem as they always have something they can make and they are knowledgeable of all ingredients. We safely ate at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Review, Cinderella's Castle, Cape May Buffet, Chef Mickey's, 1900 Park Fair, Typhoon Lagoon Counter Service, Tusker House in Animal Kingdom, 'Ohanas, Liberty Tree Tavern, Artist Point, and Le Cellier.
Regarding airlines--we flew on USAirways Metrojet service. They served pretzels at our request. We had a fine flight on the way down (except for the man behind me who had his own stash of peanuts). The trip back was also fine; however, during the flight my son's eczema flared up badly on the backs of his knees. It could have been peanut residue on the seat or it could have been the seat covering itself (it was different than on the flight down) and certain fabrics have been known to irritate his skin. The best advice I can give is to insist on a peanut free flight and to take the very first flight out in the morning. Make sure the plane did not originate anywhere else before it leaves your departure city. You will have more luck that the plane will be very clean. As it stands now, the plane lands, they herd the people out, clean the bathrooms if you're lucky and board the next group. No cleaning of chairs or tray tops is done.
Christine