Teal Mouse

Disney has created an entire program around making it easy for people with food allergies to have a great experience and great food while vacationing in their parks.  So how do they do it?  It is actually pretty simple concepts that we wish more restaurants around the country would adopt.

1. Honesty and Transparency
Seems simple and a general expectation of any food service vendor. But, few take the time to be as good as Disney in this regard. Any restaurant in any park, from the kiosk to the high-end steakhouse has a complete list of every ingredient for every menu item. Again, sounds simple and obvious, but most people that have tried an average restaurant and asked about ingredients knows that this can be a difficult and stressful situation. At a Disney food venue, there usually is a binder that a manager or chef can provide upon request that shows the list of ingredients for each menu item and in many cases a picture of the ingredient label from each component of a menu item (see our post on using the Ingredient Binder).  In some of the high-end venues, there is no binders but there are always a number of “cast members” that can provide every detail of every item on the menu.

2. Simple Ingredients
Most dishes are composed of simple, plain, clean ingredients. Even the highest end restaurants in the parks use few ingredients and simple recipes. Among other reasons, this makes the job of accommodating those with food allergies as easy as possible.  That being said, the food at Disney is very good at all levels dining – from the Dole Whip to Hibachi – and there is always a variety of options and tastes to accommodate Disney’s guests. Take a look at our posts about many of the food venues, their menu items and ingredients.

3. Training
The biggest difference that Disney restaurants have over your average restaurant is the training of its staff.  At every level, the cast members are knowledgeable about how to address food allergies.  Chefs and Managers know the composition of every menu item, how and where they are prepared, and what options they may be able to provide for even the most challenging cases.  General staff may not know the details as much as the Chefs and Managers, but they are well trained on the specific restaurant’s procedure to enlist the right people to help anyone with special needs.