We had the best experience with Chef Faythe at Yak and Yeti. Our reservation was at 4:45. Our son has a sensory disorder and would only eat nuggets during our trip. Chef Faythe went out of his way. He stayed past his shift, and made our son his own Chinese style nuggets, and sweet and sour sauce, with rice.

I was so amazed that he made him sweet and sour sauce. He also mentioned that he would stay and cook him more or something else if he wanted it. Well our son was falling asleep at the table, he would wake up eat a little fall back asleep he was so happy and said this is yummy in between falling asleep. I tried some before we left, and omg it was amazing for being allergy free!

It had to be the best meal we had during our 9 day trip. I wish we could have gone back. It is on our must do list now. I was extremely worried about this restaurant and when he started to fall asleep I was ok with it. Other people in our party have allergies and their food was amazing, too.

If you would like to review Yak and Yeti or any Disney restaurant, submit a food allergy dining Quick Review.

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We loved our dinner at Flame Tree. We informed the cashier of our gluten allergy and she immediately sent over the manager. The manager was friendly and immediately brought out the ingredient book. My husband and youngest son are on a strict gluten free diet due to Celiac Disease. My husband ordered the ribs and beans and he ordered the gluten free brownie (OMG brand) for dessert. They gave my son a plate of Grilled Chicken. He was given two chicken legs, a package of grapes and allergy safe French fries that were cooked in a dedicated gluten free fryer. He had the gluten free chocolate chip cookie (Enjoy Life Foods brand) for dessert. It was a delicious meal, and one we look forward to again.

If you would like to review Flame Tree BBQ or any Disney restaurant, submit a food allergy dining Quick Review.

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Food allergy reviews of Animal Kingdom restaurants

Below are food allergy restaurant reviews for Disney’s Animal Kingdom. If you don’t see one that you’re looking for, please contact us and we’ll find more information for you. If you would like to contribute a food allergy-free dining experience for Disney’s Animal Kingdom, we would love to share it with our readers. Every shared experience helps the next reader.

Beastly Kiosk

Quick, convenient snacks, featuring corn dogs, chips, sodas and water
Be the first to review it!

Dawa Bar

Refreshing cocktails at a rustic watering hole overlooking the African waterfront and located next to Tusker House Restaurant
Be the first to review it!

Flame Tree Barbeque

Quick service featuring delicious house-smoked barbecue chicken and rib meals or fantastic pork sandwiches
2 Reviews
Submit your review

Kusafiri Coffee Shop

Quick service with muffins, pastries, cakes and freshly brewed coffee
Be the first to review it!

Pizzafari

Pizzas! Plus sandwiches, salads and beer
Be the first to review it!

Rainforest Cafe

Jungle-themed restaurant with animated animals and featuring burgers, pasta, poultry and vegetarian selections
2 Reviews
Submit your review

Restaurantosaurus

Quick service with burgers and other favorites.
Be the first to review it!

Tamu Tamu Refreshments - Harambe

Quick service stand offering burgers and shakes.
Be the first to review it!

Tusker House Restaurant

Family buffets with African flavors during lunch and dinner. Also, join Mickey and crew on safari at breakfast and lunch.
2 Reviews
Submit your review

Yak & Yeti™ Local Foods Cafe

Quick service featuring Pan-Asian dishes, like crispy honey chicken and pork egg rolls
Be the first to review it!

Yak & Yeti™ Restaurant

Casual dining featuring Pan-Asian flavors such as maple tamarind chicken and seared miso salmon
1 Review
Submit your review

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I made our reservation a few months before we traveled to Disney World. I made the reservation via Disney’s online reservations and it has an area where you can list all of your food allergies or special needs. When we arrived at Tusker House to check in, the hostess was already aware of my sons special needs as our reservation was flagged with “Food Allergies”. Due to the time of year that we went, the dining room wasn’t as crowded as I expected and even though we arrived 20 minutes early, we were seated right away. Our original reservation was for 10 AM.

Because this restaurant is in Animal Kingdom, it has a safari feel to it. The characters themselves (Mickey, Donald, Daisy Duck, and Goofy are dressed in safari type outfits). The seating is comfortable and the tables are not too close together. Even though we were seated at the back of the restaurant, none of the tables were too far from the buffet. As you are dining, the characters come around to the tables to say hello, sign autographs and take photos with the customers. There is also a parade that takes place with the characters and the children are a part of it. Each child receives a percussion type instrument and they parade around the restaurant with the characters to music. Even my 10 years old son enjoyed this. It was a lot of fun.

When we were seated, our server was also already aware of the food allergies. She took our drink order and went to the kitchen to let the chef know that we had a special order. The chef came to our table and let me know exactly what was safe on the menu for my sons allergies. Even though there were other safe options my son chose to have fruit, bacon, hash browns, rice and waffles. Because this restaurant is buffet style and buffets are never safe for food allergies due to cross contamination, my son was brought out a safe plate of food directly from the kitchen by the chef. The chef had also made my son safe Mickey shaped waffles which were really cute. We all ordered jungle juice to drink and it was really delicious.

The waitress and the chef came to the table at various points to make sure that everything was fine for my son. When he needed more bacon, the chef brought out extra from the kitchen along with some extras of the other food items he had originally requested. They really took great care with him and he never wanted for anything. Our dining experience and the staff at the Tusker House was top notch.

Some suggestions that I have are:

1. Make your reservations in advance.
2. Tell everyone and anyone who is handling your dining experience about your food allergies.
3. Make sure to have the chef or the manager facilitate the food allergy order.
4. If you are dining at a facility that has a buffet, make sure that your food comes directly from the kitchen and not the buffet.

You can find out more about our Disney World Dining experience at my blog www.zumfamily.blogspot.com

Janeen Zumerling is a Health Community Manager, Blogger and Food Allergy Advocate. She can be found blogging at: www.zumfamily.blogspot.com (Our Story: The Good, the Bad, and the Food Allergies) and at www.foodallergycooking.blogspot.com (Mom’s Food Allergy Diner). A former Sales and Marketing Representative, Janeen is currently a stay at home mom and lives in Ohio with her husband and two young sons one of whom has multiple life threatening food allergies and asthma.

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This is exciting news! We had a tradition (OK, for 2 trips) to have a dairy-free cake delivered to 1900 Park Fare or Cinderella’s Royal Table for our little Princess, early in our trip. She would enjoy that cake at the hotel for the rest of the week. Then, along came BabyCakes NYC to Downtown Disney, and everything changed. It became our first and last stops of the trip.

Now, BabyCakes NYC can deliver cakes to Disney World, offering the best of two already great options.

Having a cake delivered to a dining event is already truly exciting for a child with food allergies. And our friends at BabyCakes NYC have the most delicious allergen-friendly and vegan baked goods on the planet. Therefore, having a BabyCakes NYC cake delivered to a Disney dining event has to be just as exciting as dining with Mickey Mouse or the entire Disney Princess Royal Family. At least, for a child with food allergies, it ranks right up there.

BabyCakes NYC offers a 6″ round cake (serves 8-10) in a number of different flavors including:  Vanilla, Chocolate, Carrot, Lemon, Brownie, Blondie, Banana, and Pumpkin. And they can also write personalized inscriptions, too!

Guests can place their cake orders by calling the bakery directly (407.938.9044).  They just need to have their reservation date, time, and confirmation number handy. BabyCakes NYC asks for at least one week notice for these orders, but the earlier the better!

We can hardly wait until our next trip to bring back this tradition. Of course, we’ll still have to stop in at BabyCakes NYC upon arrival in Orlando!

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Food allergy reviews of Animal Kingdom restaurants

Below are food allergy restaurant reviews for Disney’s Animal Kingdom. If you don’t see one that you’re looking for, please contact us and we’ll find more information for you. If you would like to contribute a food allergy-free dining experience for Disney’s Animal Kingdom, we would love to share it with our readers. Every shared experience helps the next reader.

Flame Tree BBQ gluten free guest review

This quick review was provided by Heather, who is allergic to gluten. We loved our dinner at Flame Tree. We informed the cashier of our gluten allergy and she immediately sent over the manager. The manager was friendly and immediately brought out the ingredient book. My husband and youngest son are on a strict gluten [...]

Flame Tree BBQ in Animal Kingdon – Guest Food Allergy Review

We have another fantastic guest review from Tara Wolfe who shared her son’s dining experience with multiple food allergies. Kevin is allergic to milk, eggs, peanuts, all tree nuts and coconuts. Flame Tree is a nice place to get a great bite of BBQ and sit in the shade for a while. I’ve never had [...]

Rainforest Cafe review

The Rainforest Cafe has two locations at Disney World, in Downtown Disney and outside the gates of the Animal Kingdom theme park. We’ve eaten at the Animal Kingdom location twice. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner in an atmosphere that includes trumpeting elephants, howling monkeys and gorillas, plus an occasional thunderstorm — it is a [...]

Tusker House food allergy Guest Review

We are excited to have Janeen provide this fabulous guest review of her dining experience at Tusker House in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Her son is allergic to wheat, rye, barley, oat, egg, peanut, and tree nuts. I made our reservation a few months before we traveled to Disney World. I made the reservation via Disney’s [...]

Tusker House review

The Tusker House restaurant is located in the Harambe village in the Africa area of Animal Kingdom theme park. Breakfast is the character event, called Donald’s Safari Breakfast, and includes Donald, Daisy, Mickey and Goofy, all dressed in safari gear.  The breakfast buffet includes traditional American fare, plus a few unique African influenced dishes. The [...]

Yak and Yeti food allergy quick review

This quick review was provided by Emily, whose son is allergic to egg, nuts, dairy, sunflower and fish. We had the best experience with Chef Faythe at Yak and Yeti. Our reservation was at 4:45. Our son has a sensory disorder and would only eat nuggets during our trip. Chef Faythe went out of his [...]

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Flame Tree is a nice place to get a great bite of BBQ and sit in the shade for a while. I’ve never had a bad meal here. The BBQ sandwiches are huge, but I don’t believe are allergy safe. My son just loved the chicken legs though. He kept saying how juicy they were. And their sauce…..WOW! Not too sweet, not too spicy, just right. Kevin also had carrots with his chicken, and grapes for dessert.

There is usually a crowd right around “feeding” time, so try to hit this spot on an off hour. The covered eating area fills up quick too, and few people may be there just to escape the heat. Not to mention the birds too. Be prepared as you are dining, there are tons of birds walking around your feet looking for a handout. Some may even hop up on the chair or table! But the area still remains clean. You see Cast Members constantly cleaning the area. And the restaurant staff really keeps the food moving, so there is no long wait. I just hope that in the future, Disney will decide to add some alternate choices for dessert. It seems I get burnt out on those little chocolate cakes pretty fast, since every counter service offers them.

As for advice on how to dine safely with food allergies, here are a few tips when planning and taking you vacation. Dining at a counter service requires no ADRs (Advanced Dining Reservations), so first thing is to speak to a manager. Explain what allergies you are dealing with and they will show you their Food Allergy Binder. It lists all the products including the ingredients. The manager will personally prepare the food and deliver it to you.

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Have experience with food allergies at Disney?

Would you like one of these?

We’re giving another one away! We’re looking for other families and individuals to share their Disney food allergy dining experience. Our readers need much more than a simple restaurant rating. They are seeking restaurant reviews with recommendations and advice suited to their food allergy or allergies.

As an incentive for your contribution, we’re going to award a $100 gift card to the Disney store to one blogger every quarter.

Guidelines for submission

Your submission must be a Disney dining experience, either in a table service, quick service or resort restaurant, within the past 2 years. Disneyland and Disney Cruise dining experiences count, too!

Include the following:

• Restaurant name
• Your food allergies
• Your food allergy free meal, plus other meals in your party (optional)
• The approximate date of your dining event
• Who served you and the chef or manager’s name, if possible.
• A photo, including the food, if you have one or more to share
• Most importantly, tips that made your experience successful, as well as tips for next time.
• Your Author information – how you want to be credited.
• Your web address, or anything else you would like to promote, within reason.

Feel free to include as much detail as you would like — we prefer a minimum of 3 paragraphs.

Please be sure to write the article as if you were explaining your dining experience to someone, so they can fully envision the event. Include some detail about the restaurant, time of day, crowd level or anything else that adds to the enjoyment of the event as well as your food allergy details.

How to submit your entry

Please email your entry to:

Send your reviews in a Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, Google Docs or plain text format. Photos should be in JPG or PNG format.

How to win

We’re looking for personal, detailed reviews with tips and advice. To pick the winner, we will let our readers judge the posts. We use a thumbs-up rating system for our content and will use this, plus Facebook Likes to count votes.  Therefore, we encourage you to invite your readers, friends and families to our website, so they can help us all spread the word. Think of all the kids and parents you’ll help by sharing your experiences and tips.

You may submit as many times as you like, as long as they are for separate restaurants.

We’ll tally the votes on August 4, 2012 at 12:00PM EST and deliver the prize within a week. In the case of a tie, we will award the prize to the article submitted first.

Official Rules /  Legal info:

• This quarter’s contest starts May 5 23, 2012 at 1:00PM EST and ends August 4, 2012 at 12:00PM EST.
• Open only to persons 18 years of age or older as of the date of entry.
• Void where prohibited and is subject to all applicable federal, state, provincial, and local laws.
• Delivery of Disney Gift Card will occur via U.S. mail.
• We are not responsible for shipping eligibility from the online Disney Store. Make sure you live in a location available for DisneyStore.com shipping. They ship to most places on Earth.
• Winner will be notified via the email used for article submission. Be sure to provide your valid email with your article. You will also be notified when your article is published.
• Your article must be your own and it must be original, about dining at Disney with one or more food allergies.
• All articles become property of AllergyFreeMouse.com with attribution to the author, as provided by the author. We reserve the right to publish or remove the article as we feel necessary.
• We are not responsible for articles lost “in the email” and will confirm receipt of all entries within 24 hours. Therefore, if you do not receive acknowledgement of receipt, please email us again or use our contact form for confirmation.

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Disney World Planning Worksheet

This is the grid I make every time we go to Disney World. I usually end up making several versions of these, as I change them around to make sure we have the best combination of theme park time, pool time, Downtown Disney time, and restaurants scheduled to work best for our food allergy.

Check park hours, Extra Magic Hours and fireworks times, Electric Water Parade hours, outdoor resort movie times and activity times, etc. A good place to start is by checking the park calendars and resort web page for hours and activity times. Also, don’t forget to plan around special theme park “parties” such as “Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party” and “Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.” I buy these tickets as soon as they go on sale.

To plan your trip, pick the dates you want, the parks you want to visit, the times you want to be there, then the restaurants. Of course, this may change if you find it difficult to get into a restaurant you want at the time you prefer. For example, it’s often difficult to get a reservation at Cinderella’s Royal Table on a day we plan to be at the Magic Kingdom. In that case, we might choose to move a Magic Kingdom day to another, and move the easier-to-get reservations at another park.

Some of the most difficult to get:

• Cinderella’s Royal Table
• Chef Mickey’s
• California Grill
• Spirit of Aloha
• The Crystal Palace
• Tomorrowland Terrace Fireworks Dessert Party
• Le Cellier
• The Rose and Crown
• The Fantasmic Dinner Package, especially The Brown Derby followed by Mama Melrose.
• O’Hana

Try to make your reservations at these restaurants 180 days before your trip, except for Tomorrowland Terrace which cannot be reserved earlier than 2 months before your trip.

Planning Worksheet - click for download/printable version

Planning Worksheet template

Label each day with the day name. Below that make a note of the Extra Magic hours for the park you’re attending, if they exist. Next add each day’s breakfast location, lunch location, afternoon plan, dinner location and after dinner plan. Be sure to add your Advanced Dining Reservation confirmation number below each restaurant accordingly.

Then, just to both simplify and clarify your plans, use color coding to ensure you have planned accordingly. We color code our grid with the following:

• Yellow = Magic Kingdom
• Green = Animal Kingdom
• Purple = Epcot
• Gold = Hollywood Studios
• Pink = Downtown Disney
• Orange = Resort / hotel
• Light blue = Hotel pool
• Medium Blue = Water parks
• Brown = Other resorts, usually for dining

The planning may seem a little too detailed to some, but it has to be due to our food allergies. As we all know, you have to have your meals completely planned out. By color coding the grid, I can easily make sure everything lines up accordingly, parks and their restaurants, plus I can see that we have enough time at the park, pool and other activities. Put notes at the bottom, like fireworks times, etc.

You could use a spreadsheet version of this, but it limits the flexibility to make notes and changes when you’re working on the plan.

I make a color copy of the final version. I keep the original at the hotel and take the copy with us, plus a photo on our smartphones, just in case. The originals are fun to look at years later or add to a scrapbook.

I love planning our trip — it’s exciting and a lot of fun. The fact that my little girl can eat at a restaurant, play at the parks and the resorts is truly magical!

Here is a copy from our trip in early May. Click it to see a larger version. You may notice there is no time allotted at the Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios. On our last trips, we spent time at each, but felt it was more age appropriate to spend most of our time at Magic Kingdom this trip, along with a day at Epcot.

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The Rainforest Cafe has two locations at Disney World, in Downtown Disney and outside the gates of the Animal Kingdom theme park. We’ve eaten at the Animal Kingdom location twice.

They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner in an atmosphere that includes trumpeting elephants, howling monkeys and gorillas, plus an occasional thunderstorm — it is a rainforest, after all. It’s very fun and exciting for everyone.

They have a mega gift shop filled with stuffed animals, games, clothing, toys and more. They have an old fashion photo booth to take pictures. Be prepared – everyone will want something from the gift shop!

The Rainforest Cafe is not owned by Disney, however, they were very knowledge about food allergies. The waiter understood immediately that he needed to be careful with our daughter’s food. He also asked the chef to come by and work with us directly on her meal. He prepared her nachos with grilled chicken, black beans, salsa, lettuce and guacamole. She loved every bit of it.

UPDATE 5/19/2011: Rainforest Cafe has changed the ingredients in some of their food items. Black beans now contain butter and corn, and the guacamole is no longer considered free of dairy cross contamination.

If you’ve eaten here with a food allergy, please comment or send us your experience. You’re tips and advice will help many others enjoy the magic of Disney.

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