First stop: For allergy printout of foods and restaurants
- Chamber of Commerce for Califormia Park or City Hall for Disneyland side - just inside gates
Today we choose to start our Disneyland experience with California Park. As we have done our research a trip to the Chamber of Commerce got us a listing for the coeliacs but when I asked for an allergy list for the dairy intolerant - the answer is no. No lists for that allergy.
Tip Three: - as soon as you arrive go straight and book your pass for the World Of Colour on each night at 9pm.
This tip was also from a good friend - and it was a fantastic tip. The pass is issued from the kiosk at the Grizzly Bear ride. This entitles you to reserve seating for the show at night. If you do it first in the morning you will be in a coloured areas close to the front - where the action is. We did this and the seats were great. If you are not organised you will be squeezed along the street in front of the buildings. As thousands of people pass through the gates everyday - it pays to know the inside information.
Time to Eat
The weather was hot and they had a lot of cold iceblocks and icecreams for sale. My daughter tried the strawberry iceblock. The man joked and said it is very cold - watch you lips. Not taking much notice of the passing comment - my young daughter proceeded to start the iceblock. He wasn't kidding - it was so cold - it took the skin off her lips !!!! But even with half a lip, my daughter was not going to let this ruin our first big day at Disney. I tried the frozen banana - great for coeliacs and FM sufferers. YUMMMMM. I must have had ten of these over the next three days. Not good for nut allergies as coated in nuts and chocolate.
Be warned all the slurpies have fructose syrup in it and the vitamin water that is sold everywhere has sorbitol in it - not good for FM sufferers.
Nearing dinner time we could not wait for our booking at the Rainforest Cafe in the Downtown Disney precinct - outside the park but only by metres. This again - was another great tip from our friends who are regular travellers to Disney.
Here is the link: http://www.rainforestcafe.com/
This is a themed restaurant all decked out like a rainforest covering an indiana jones like temple with robot animals and complete with an indoor storm, light show and rain.
It is a beautiful place to see and an excellent place to eat. The children will absolutely love it.
I had booked the 60 days ahead and found they could only fit us in at 5.30pm. I see why - it is very, very popular.
Chef Dore came to our table and introduced himself and proceeded to run through our dietary requirements.
He was a happy and nice gentleman who didn't exhibit the usual practice of rolling his eyes or glazing over when mentioning our allergies - so we were off to a great start.
He was very knowledgeable, understands cross contamination and even went to the effort of offering alternatives or dishes that we may be interested in trying. He was great at substituting food items for safe ones.
My daughter enjoyed a 100% beef pattie some carrots and lettuce, I had the best steak, mashed potato and carrots.
All prepared separate from the other meals. The fries were out as they use fryers for other meals.
No desserts were dairy free for daughter. But if you can have dairy - you will be happy.
If you do suffer allergies and are looking for great culinary experiences at Disney or from what we experienced in America, you will be sorely disappointed.
Unless of course, if you know a local who suffers the same allergy as you and can show you some local haunts.
I asked at many establishments about gluten free, but despite being asked about gluten free all the time - no one has done anything about supplying the demand for us forgotten few ( well not few - numbers growing everyday into the hundreds of thousands with allergies!)
After the full eleven hours walking - it was time to head back to the hotel.
Walking to the hotel at 11pm or midnight is no problem as people are everywhere doing the same thing.
Our hotel seems to be the local Aussie hangout.
Aussie families fill the pool at 10pm at night and a great spot to watch the fireworks each night.
Friday 28 September 2012
DAY ONE - ALLERGIES AT DISNEYLAND
After a very long flight over, we have landed. I have now realised no matter how many emails or phone calls you make to airlines there will always be a break in the communication chain.
The catering supplier for Virgin Australia needs a lesson in allergy awareness.
For eg. lets feed a lactose intolerant child - yoghurt and the same child who is fructose intolerant - honey, watermelon and peas. I do realise that it is a big ask to know what foods are unsafe for people with this condition, but when you provide them safe food lists in multiple emails and phone calls - it should not be that hard?
So the child did eat her plain chicken and her GF bread roll but had to forgo some of the vegies and selected fruit.
This is the part where I mentioned bringing on board your own prepackaged food to supplement the mistakes.
Mistakes will happen but how comforting is it to know there is a back up plan. Small problem solved.
How much stress is it for allergy sufferer or parents of a allergy child to survive such a long flight without eating much at all?
Also the last thing you want to do when you get off the plane is forage for food.
Tip One: Have lots of small change in the local currency for tipping.
Once off the plane we waited for our shuttle to take us to the hotel. A friend had a great tip : if you are one of those people who could rip someones head off after a long haul flight and cannot wait the extra time while the shuttle meanders along the highways going to everyone elses hotel and leaves yours to the last - adding another hour or so to your holiday transport time - hire a private driver.
We were lucky - we arrived after midnight and we were the only ones in the shuttle - so we went direct to the hotel - The Howard Johnson. This hotel was recommended by a friend and she was not wrong it was fantastic in many ways - location - only 500 metres from Disney gates, clean, tidy, several pools and water parks for kids, best beds I have ever slept in and cheap $588 for a week. Beds and towels changed daily and in room safe for your passports. Friends of ours stayed in the Disneyland Resort within the Disney precinct - but very expensive per night.
Here is the link for hotel: http://www.hojoanaheim.com/
Food Foraging
Strangely enough, after seeing the email photos of Walmart, my daughter wanted to see the store and see if the myths were true. There is one a short taxi ride from the hotel. It is really large with a combination of supermarket and general goods. When I asked the staff if there was a health food aisle or a dedicated allergy aisle like here in Australia at Woolworths or Coles - there was none. The answer was - you will have to check each individual product ingredients! Now I like to shop - but no spending all day in a supermarket to try to seek out suitable products. Our plan - stick to the basics - fruit, vegies, chicken or meat, corn tortillas, corn chips. Everything was loaded with high fructose corn syrup from tomato sauce to even ham. No wonder we have a health epidemic. No rice crackers in sight.
Remember buy some plastic plates and some cutlery, cling wrap or bags as your room has a microwave.
An upside to the store was they will call you a cab back to your hotel for free from the customer service desk - store policy.
Tip Two: Get your Disney souvenirs at Walmart - Half Price
All disney merchandise is half price than the same item in Disneyland itself. Same products cheaper price.
The catering supplier for Virgin Australia needs a lesson in allergy awareness.
For eg. lets feed a lactose intolerant child - yoghurt and the same child who is fructose intolerant - honey, watermelon and peas. I do realise that it is a big ask to know what foods are unsafe for people with this condition, but when you provide them safe food lists in multiple emails and phone calls - it should not be that hard?
So the child did eat her plain chicken and her GF bread roll but had to forgo some of the vegies and selected fruit.
This is the part where I mentioned bringing on board your own prepackaged food to supplement the mistakes.
Mistakes will happen but how comforting is it to know there is a back up plan. Small problem solved.
How much stress is it for allergy sufferer or parents of a allergy child to survive such a long flight without eating much at all?
Also the last thing you want to do when you get off the plane is forage for food.
Tip One: Have lots of small change in the local currency for tipping.
Once off the plane we waited for our shuttle to take us to the hotel. A friend had a great tip : if you are one of those people who could rip someones head off after a long haul flight and cannot wait the extra time while the shuttle meanders along the highways going to everyone elses hotel and leaves yours to the last - adding another hour or so to your holiday transport time - hire a private driver.
We were lucky - we arrived after midnight and we were the only ones in the shuttle - so we went direct to the hotel - The Howard Johnson. This hotel was recommended by a friend and she was not wrong it was fantastic in many ways - location - only 500 metres from Disney gates, clean, tidy, several pools and water parks for kids, best beds I have ever slept in and cheap $588 for a week. Beds and towels changed daily and in room safe for your passports. Friends of ours stayed in the Disneyland Resort within the Disney precinct - but very expensive per night.
Here is the link for hotel: http://www.hojoanaheim.com/
Food Foraging
Strangely enough, after seeing the email photos of Walmart, my daughter wanted to see the store and see if the myths were true. There is one a short taxi ride from the hotel. It is really large with a combination of supermarket and general goods. When I asked the staff if there was a health food aisle or a dedicated allergy aisle like here in Australia at Woolworths or Coles - there was none. The answer was - you will have to check each individual product ingredients! Now I like to shop - but no spending all day in a supermarket to try to seek out suitable products. Our plan - stick to the basics - fruit, vegies, chicken or meat, corn tortillas, corn chips. Everything was loaded with high fructose corn syrup from tomato sauce to even ham. No wonder we have a health epidemic. No rice crackers in sight.
Remember buy some plastic plates and some cutlery, cling wrap or bags as your room has a microwave.
An upside to the store was they will call you a cab back to your hotel for free from the customer service desk - store policy.
Tip Two: Get your Disney souvenirs at Walmart - Half Price
Aussies with Allergies Abroad - Travel Tips for Disneyland California
PRE-PLANNING FOR YOUR HOLIDAY
Anyone who knows me, knows I like to be organised. The last thing I want on my holiday is stress and fuss - primarily hunting and gathering food for our allergy meals.
Booking your flights
Computer booking systems for airlines only allow for one allergy to be listed. Problem one.
Ring the airlines and get them to make a note on your ticket for allergy meals or if you have multiple allergies.
In our case we had one gluten free traveller, one traveller who has fructose malabsorption (so no garlic, onions etc) is gluten and lactose free and one husband who eats anything put in front of him - no allergies.
If you have life threatening allergies you will need to fill out an airline medical clearance form and have it signed by a doctor.
Here is the link for the Virgin Australia site : http://www.virginaustralia.com/au/en/plan/special-needs-assistance/medical-conditions/
It was our lucky day, when we rang Virgin we had a lovely girl called Sasha who also suffered allergies and knew exactly where we were coming from. She suggested the best procedure to follow to ensure your meals are covered in flight is to email the airline 3 weeks out, then one week out from departing and then ring 24 hours before to ensure your meal actually makes it to the plane.
Our condition is not life threatening, but for customs reasons I got a letter from my doctor outlining my daughters allergies and dietary requirements.
A phone call to Aussie customs says that passengers are allowed a small esky with dry ice 2.5kg no bigger – restricted liquids no more than 100ml of each item and no more than 1 litre in total.
Esky classed as luggage in carry on.
Sandwiches, cakes, fruit etc all exceptable - except all fruit must be eaten on the plane or disposed of on the plane prior to landing. Packaged goods are ok to declare when getting off, as long as no seeds etc.
Booking meals at Disneyland
To ensure stress free meals - Disney requests you book sit down restaurants up to 60 days in advance.
The number is 001117147813463. Tell them you have allergies in advance.
We were lucky enough to email Bill Orton the Head of Disneyland Chefs.
It is his job to inform the chefs at the locations how to serve the meals. More about our meals in later posts.
I could not believe how far in advance we had to book, but it was worth it. The restuarants book out very quickly and the unorganised could be left with a boring hot dog for dinner if they don't plan.
The Disneyland website has a section on allergies and a list of all the outlets with food items listed especially for coeliacs. The link is : http://disneyland.disney.go.com/plan/guest-services/special-dietary-requests/
When to book for Disneyland
Best time to go to Disneyland is during the week.
We went Thursday, Friday and Saturday on a three day pass.
We had no waiting time for rides on Thursday about 10 minutes on Friday and then on weekends when all of Anaheim came as well, it was over an hour wait on each ride.
We went on the 5th September for two weeks, which was outside the school holidays for American children. You need them to be at school so there is less people in the park.
Weather was hot and fine.
Packing for Holiday
- Ensure you take your medication and lots of aspirin or panadol.
- A packet of gastro-stop would also be handy. (Wish I would have followed my own advice!)
- Take enough prepackaged food to last through the number of flights you will be taking and any tours you are going to take - I will explain later why.
- Scan your passports and travel documents into your email - so they can be accessed anywhere at anytime.
- Make sure you have travel insurance - I will also explain later what happened to us.
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