Birthday parties, eating out at restaurants, even dinner at a friend’s house are all on my list of Stressful for a Parent of a Child with Food Allergies, but I learned last month that Disney World is on a different list.

Disney World is on the (very short) awesome about food allergies list.

One of my twins has a severe allergy to dairy. Like the rare Epi-Pen allergic to dairy type of allergy. Parents of a child with food allergies will understand when I say that I have got this pretty much mastered at home. It took awhile and some tears and frustration, but at home and school I have a system. I am pretty confident he is safe.

Traveling with that food allergy is a whole different thing. Traveling with a food allergy means constantly eating food that I didn’t shop for and didn’t prepare and sometimes can’t communicate very clearly about. More than anything it means putting a lot of trust in someone else to make safe food for my kid.

Disney World, however, was hands down one of the best travel experiences I have had in terms of that food allergy stress.

I had certainly heard this reputation, but we recently took our first family trip to Disney World and I was blown away by how they handled allergies, so of course I had to share.

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Disney World with Kids + a Dairy Allergy

We landed at Disney World on a Saturday. It was a long flight from California (yes, I am aware that we live about 2 hours from Disneyland but we didn’t know that would be the case when we booked the trip pre-move.) and the time change and jet lag were a little tough the first day but we handled it by switching our schedule over as quickly as possible.

also read: how to help your kids conquer jet lag fast

That day we checked in, had dinner and got to bed.

STAY.

We stayed at the Art of Animation Disney Hotel which we really liked. The kids loved the Finding Nemo themed room and pool area. The playground above was also a huge hit. Us parents enjoyed the suite with an actual door and separate bathroom for us.

We had dinner and breakfast at our hotel and were pleasantly surprised by the little ways that food allergies were considered. We found soy milk and soy chocolate milk. The menus were clear and the staff was very helpful.

Then we headed to the parks.

EAT. (even with a dairy allergy)

There are SO many places to eat and wow was I overwhelmed when we first started to figure this part out.

When you add in the additional complication of a food allergy eek. BUT Disney World pleasantly surprised me with their awesome appreciation for how difficult allergies are for families to deal with.

We did a little pre-work by investigating on the Disney World website how they deal with food allergies and reading some other blogs that share reviews of different allergy options at Disney.

These are my kiddo with the severe dairy allergy’s eating experiences.

Character Breakfast at Crystal Palace

We started off our first full day – Sunday – at the Magic Kingdom and had brunch at the Crystal Palace.

I have read other experiences where the character meals were too overwhelming for them with an allergy. I can understand this, especially with certain allergies. However, we avoided the buffet tables which always freak me out in terms of cross contamination and I felt at his age and with the spacing of the tables he was pretty safe.

My kids loved meeting the Winnie the Pooh characters and even I have to admit that I got kinda giddy when Piglet stopped by, but that was not the highlight for me.

The highlight for me were these adorable Mickey Mouse waffles. Now maybe you’re unimpressed, but let me tell you why this is such a big deal.

We have been other places that have been good about food allergies. We have tracked down alternative foods that are safe in a variety of stores. BUT here’s the thing – the “alternatives” are never cute.

Not only did the Disney chefs happily whip up some dairy-free waffles and deliver them to our table, but they got that my kid is a kid. They took the extra time to make them fun.

The vegan mac and cheese does not come in shapes.

The vegan ice cream sandwiches are always squares.

Disney’s dairy free food creators get that my kid wants to have the same fun shaped food as every other kid. Cue the mama tears.

Akershus Royal Banquet Hall

The next day when we got to Epcot and went to the Princess Storybook Dining meal we got the exact same treatment:

• They knew we had a food allergy from our reservation.
• We were shown the Allergy-Friendly Menu
• The server volunteered to get a chef for us to talk any concerns over with
• and the food was delicious.

The one weird thing I will say about the Allergy-Friendly Menu is that it is set up so that the menu tells you what you CAN eat. I love the positive tone of this and wish that this was the way the whole world discussed allergies, but since it’s the opposite of everywhere else I’ve been, it was a little confusing at first.

The food wasn’t as cutesy at this meal, but that was true for all of us. It was really good though and almost everything was vegan friendly (which also means no dairy) – aside from this really big plate of meat – which he loved since he’s very much not vegan.

I can’t really explain how much a stress-free restaurant dining experience meant to me.

The fact that from the hostess to the server to the cooks all got that this was a big deal and understood how to make us feel comfortable and made zero mistakes (because of course I still had to check) with our orders was huge.

It meant not only could I eat and relax, I could also enjoy moments like my daughter meeting her favorite princess and explaining to her that “I like you the very best because you love animals just like me.”

Donald’s Safari Breakfast at Tusker House

The next day we went to Animal Kingdom and had our third and final character breakfast. Three was a little much I would probably only do one or two if I was going to do it again, but all were great experiences.

This time we met Mickey and his pals which delighted my “princessed out” son. (His words.) Again the menu was clear, the staff was helpful, and the food was delicious.

On a side note, I really liked that although some food was the same (Mickey Waffles were once again procured at Animal Kingdom) a lot of it was very different depending on where you were.

Snacks

The rest of the time we ate meals away from the parks, but we did have a few snacks worth mentioning.

Epcot was definitely our favorite place for snacking.

It did make me a little nervous that not all of the staff at Epcot spoke excellent English, but we are used to trying again and again until we are sure they understand the severity of his allergy. Despite a minor language barrier everyone continued to be very helpful and friendly about our concerns.

In fact, the day we did Epcot we snacked our way through dinner instead of having a big meal somewhere.

We all loved this adorable rice and coconut panda from a cart in the China Pavilion.

My son was thrilled to eat his first big soft pretzel in the Germany Pavilion. You wouldn’t think they contain dairy but every other place we’ve checked they have said he couldn’t have it. It was enormous and he ate almost all of it and said it was the best thing ever.

We also had ice cream and sorbet at L’Artisan Des Glaces which is tucked into the French Pavilion.

Magic Kingdom Snacks

My favorite snack spot was Gaston’s Tavern at the Magic Kingdom. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie so I loved the little details and touches.

There we drank the LaFoo specialty drink which was dairy free even though it looked so delicious and silly that was very hard to believe. Again research and lots of questions ensured that yup, no dairy!

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I will share more (non-food related things) about our adventures at Disney World but for now I just want to say that as an allergy kid’s mama it was a joy. Traveling with my kids is a great experience, but that one piece usually makes it so much more stressful and complicated.

Sure we still asked lots of questions and triple checked all of our menus and his food, but it was still so much easier than most travel experiences. On top of that the little magical touches that they added, even to the allergy friendly food, were incredible.

Disney World did a remarkable job with dairy free food for our little guy and I have no doubt it made our trip a million times better.

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