Planning Disney Vacation

[hezzier]

Thanks HH, that's very helpful.

[hezzier]

Ok, flights are booked, hotel is booked, need to call the naval ship yard to get tickets.  I have a couple restaurants booked but not necessarily what I wanted.

Does anyone have any allergy info on the mickey bars?  the ice cream shaped like mickey's head covered in chocolate?

[candyguru]

Have a great time!  We went to Disney World and found the restaurants very allergy aware

[spacecanada]

Current Mickey Bar information:

From AllergyFreeMouse.com

Be sure you ask to see the package, though a Disney chef won't even bring it out if your allergens are on the label, even as a may contain.

Keep checking on the restaurants you want on the MyDisneyExperience app.  You may find a cancellation before you leave or whilst you are there. We were able to get some better dining options that way. Though we have only ever had one bad dining experience at Disney out of well over a hundred meals.

Have a magical vacation!

[hezzier]

SC-thanks for the info.

[hezzier]

We are back, had a great trip. 

We stayed at the Double Tree Lake Buena Vista near Disney Springs.  There are bunch of hotels (Best Western, B Resort, Hilton, and a few more on Hotel Plaza Blvd) in this area that are not owned by Disney but still have Disney transportation.  So there were 2 buses starting at 8 am every morning...one went to MK and HS, the other to AK and Epcot...so it took about 30 mins to get to the first park, add 15 min to get to the second park.  They picked up to return to the hotels about every 30 mins.  Most of the hotels have a contract with one of the taxi company so if you stay in one be sure to check with them for transportation to and from the airport...we used Mears which was fine. 

There is a grocery store called Goodings about 1/2 mile from our hotel...they had almost everything we would have needed...Udi's muffins, pepperidge farm bread, king's hawaiian bread, sunbutter, snacks, etc.  I actually packed sunbutter, bread, snacks, paper towels, plastic bags, disposable knives, etc. so that we could bring lunch into the park for the kids.  In the Gooding's Plaza, there were multiple restaurants including Moe's Southwestern Grill so we ate there there first night and walked back with a couple things from the grocery store.

Our hotel had continental breakfast...yogurts, whole fruit and cereals were available if the buffet was not safe for certain allergies.  There was probably one muffin or pastry with nuts, but it didn't look like those were baked in house, but I did not ask.  They made Mickey waffles from a mix at the buffet, the omelet chef brought out the package for me to read...no warnings, it read safe so we went with it.  DS had a banana, Mickey waffles and yogurt every morning.  The rest of us at from the buffet.  Since DH is a gold member it was only $5 to upgrade to full breakfast for adults, DS was free, and they should have charged us for DD, but just ignored the fact that she was older than 12.

[hezzier]

Because we booked kind of late, our favorite restaurants were not available.  We ate at House of Blues, The Boathouse and Paradiso 37...all located in Disney Springs.  The Disney Springs bus started each night at 6 pm from our hotel and since it picked up at other hotels, the ride was probably 20 minutes.  I think you could walk it in 10-20 mins, but our feet were so tired at the end of the day that if our reservations were too close to the bus time, we hopped in a cab for $6-8 depending on which end of Disney Springs that you got dropped of at.

Disney Springs is under construction, a few places are closed...Fulton's crab house and planet hollywood (probably more, but I can't think of them).  They are apparently increasing the size of it and adding a ton of shops and restaurants...they are trying to make it a destination spot.

House of Blues...DS had a burger without the bun and fries.  For dessert, he had a huge homemade cookie ice cream sandwich that really could have served 4 easily. Chef did not come to the table.

The Boathouse...DS again had a burger and could have the bun, but not the fries since it's a shared fryer and they use some sesame oil, he decided on a salad, but could have had roasted potatoes or a baked potato.  A couple of the desserts were made in house (but not all), so we ordered chocolate bundt cake and key lime pie (this was the winner).  The bread was made in house also.  The chef came to the table.

Paradiso 37...DS again had a burger and was able to have the gluten free bun (but decided he would have preferred no bun...it fell apart too fast for him) and fries were safe.  Tortilla chips are made in house on a dedicated fryer.  Again, some desserts are made in house and some are purchased.  We ordered the guava cheese cake and the mexican chocolate brownie (this was amazing).  The chef came to the table.

Yes, DS had a burger every night...I didn't care as long as it was safe food.

[hezzier]

In the parks, we did not eat any meals.  Based on the letter in this thread, we checked the allergy information on the Mickey bars in the notebook and on the label and they read safe for peanuts and tree nuts so we ate them daily...with no issues.

We sought out the Dole pineapple whip one day...it was not easy to find, we had to google it.  I thought it would be more readily available so if you are interested be sure to search on the disney app where it's located in each park.  We loved it, thought it was very refreshing on a hot day.

[spacecanada]

I was thinking of you Hezz and dreaming of Disney... I am happy that you had such a great time in the parks!  We've never dined in the Disney Springs restaurants or any of the ones in EPCOT not operated by Disney.  I'd be interested to hear how they handled allergies and if it was the same protocols as they have at the Disney-operated restaurants.  Care to share?  (i.e. was the allergy noted on your reservation, confirmed by the greeter and server, chef came to table, etc.?)

[hezzier]

I booked all the reservations on the Disney dining website and added the allergy info.  None of the places we ate acknowledged the allergy so I have no idea if they could see it on the reservation.

We informed the server when they came to the table.  At the House of Blues, the server kept having to check on items with the chef.  Although, I do believe he came out to the table next to us.

At The Boathouse and Paradiso 37, the chef came to the table and we talked about what DS was interested in...we always had first and second choices ready to go.  We usually looked at the menu online during the day to prep him in advance.  Also talked desserts with the chef so we could make a choice without disrupting him again.

It worked, but I'd say the Disney owned restaurants are more responsive/proactive to the allergy customer.