If you have a food allergy and you’re heading to Walt Disney World, you might have concerns about what your food options will be.
In fact, if you’ve never navigated Disney food before, you may be considering skipping Disney World all together for the food situation alone.
But this would be a mistake!
Disney is actually insanely awesome at accommodating allergies and special diets! They have multiple systems in place to ensure that you will be fed something you can eat and something you will like.
Today, we’re going to look at how Disney World handles food allergies so you know what to expect and what to ask for.
The truth about Disney Park food
First, let’s take a second to talk about Disney food in general.
If you’ve never been to Disney World, or never paid too much attention to the food, it may be easy to think you can expect standard theme park food, like burgers, fries, hot dogs, etc.
You can absolutely find those things in Disney World, but there are also tons of more complex and higher quality food and restaurants to choose from.
This is true for both quicker counter service meals and table service meals.
And every single one of these places is equipt to accommodate the needs of food allergies and special diets.
My experience
I don’t have a food allergy myself, but my dad does.
He was a little concerned about the food situation when we were headed to Disney World for the first time after he was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, which means he has to be gluten-free.
His fears turned out to be completely unfounded. Disney went out of their way to make sure he had something to each and something that he liked at every food stop.
They made it ridiculously easy for him to eat and it was never an inconvenience for him to be accommodated. In nearly every instance, a chef came out to meet with my dad directly.
Additionally, all of the food he ate he genuinely enjoyed. Disney chefs didn’t compromise taste to make a gluten-free meal.
And as a side note, we were also on the dining plan, and my dad was able to find something he liked in every table service, quick service, and snack situation. You can learn more about the pros and cons of the Disney Dining Plan here!
What you need to do
If you or someone in your party has a food allergy, you can have that noted on their My Disney Experience account. (Learn more about the My Disney Experience App here!)
You should be able to add this on the individual’s account yourself, however, you can also call Disney directly and speak to a cast member to be sure the allergy is properly noted.
You can also do this when you initially book your trip.
This will ensure that your server and hosts are aware of the food allergy at any table service locations.
You should also mention that there’s a food allergy in your party when you make any table service reservation.
Even with this notation, make sure you always inform servers, hosts, and any cast members assisting you with food of your food allergy when you get to any dining location.
At quick service locations
To order at a quick service location, you go up to a register and place your order with a cast member.
If you have a food allergy, inform this cast member as soon as you get to them. At this point, one of two things will likely happen.
Either they will present you with an allergy menu with allergy-friendly options for you to choose from, or they will call for a chef to come out and talk with you.
If a chef comes out, they will guide you through the regular menu options and tell you what’s safe for you to eat and/or tell you what menu items they can make a modified version of to meet your needs.
You will then be given a special pager so you know when your meal is ready.
When you pick up your food, it will likely be in some way labeled as an allergy meal. This helps cast members avoid cross-contamination and indicates that the meal needs to go to a very specific individual.
At table service locations
When you check in with your host, make sure they are aware that a member of your party has a food allergy. They will give you a special menu when they seat you and/or make sure your server is aware.
From there, what to expect can vary depending on if you’re at a traditional table service restaurant with a wait staff or if you’re at a buffet.
Traditional wait staff
If you’re at a more traditional table service restaurant, you may get a special allergy specific menu (more on that in a moment).
Alternatively, your server may inform the chef of your allergy and have them come out to talk to you.
Just like at the counter service location, the chef will guide you through the menu, tell you what’s safe, and point out how dishes can be modified to meet your needs.
They may also have some additional meal options they can offer you if none of the modifications work for you. However, this can vary by restaurant based on their resources.
Buffet
If you’re dining at a buffet, you may get an allergy guide which points out which foods are safe for different allergy suffers.
If there isn’t a menu, the chef will again come out and walk you through the buffet, pointing out what’s safe for you to eat.
But keep in mind, it’s a lot harder to control cross-contamination in a buffet setting. We’ve never had a problem, but if you’re very sensitive or deathly allergic, you’re probably better off avoiding the buffet situation and going with a more traditional wait staff set up.
Special menus
Many Disney World food locations (both quick service and table service locations) have special menus for allergies. These are mainly to keep you from waiting too long for a chef.
When you arrive at a location, make sure you mention your food allergy to your host or the cast member assisting you. If a special allergy menu is available at this location, it will be given to you.
These menus cover the most common food allergies (such as tree nuts, peanuts, gluten, shellfish, etc). Each menu item is very clear about which allergen has been eliminated, so you should be able to work out what’s safe to eat pretty easily.
However, you can always clarify with your server. If they have any doubts or questions, they will ask the chef or bring the chef out to talk to you.
If you don’t have a more common allergy, the special menu may not apply to you, but you’ll still be able to talk to a chef who should be able to hook you up.
It’s also worth noting, that even if a restaurant has a special menu, you can still ask to talk to the chef if you have any questions or if you aren’t seeing anything you like.
The only two downsides
Options can be limited
This may go without saying, but your options are going to be more limited than if you were dining without a food allergy.
And when it comes to things like desserts, there are only a handful of allergy-friendly options available across Disney Parks. This is particularly true at counter-service locations.
Additionally, if you’re dining at a counter service location, you’re going to have less options than when you dine at a table service location. This is largely because of the size of the kitchen and resources available.
Counter service locations are more suited to modify existing menu items (with maybe one or two additional allergy-friendly options).
Whereas table service locations have bigger kitchens and more food on hand, so they have more ability to come up with something more customized if necessary.
Sometimes it takes time
It can take a little extra time to wait for the chef to come speak with you. Sometimes they’re in the middle of something, and sometimes they’re meeting with other people who have allergy needs as well.
They do their very best to get to you ASAP, but there can still be delays.
And because they’re often going out of their way to make you something special, it can take longer for your food to come out. This is true at both counter-service and table service locations.
Preparing something for someone with a food allergy usually means starting fresh when the order is made. This is to ensure they’re meeting the needs of your specific allergy. However, this means they don’t have as much prepped for allergy meals as they do for non-allergy meals.
Our wait has never been devastating, but if you’re dining with an allergy, plan on budgeting an extra fifteen to twenty minutes more for your meal than you might expect, just to be safe.
For more Disney World tips and tricks, check out the other Disney World Posts!
Sound off: Do you have experience dining with a food allergy in Disney World? Tell us about it in the comments!