The Most Magical Place on Earth {more or less an allergy-free dining review}

We had been promising a Disney trip to Eli since he was three years old but the timing was just not right…until now.

We had a wonderful time at the most magical place on Earth.  It truly was magical for Eli and Lucy.  They were in awe at everything.  Over and over again Eli could be heard saying “this is so awesome!”

 

We stayed at the Art of Animation Resort in the Finding Nemo suite.  If you have kids, this is definitely the place to stay.  Three pools, two play areas, a splash pad, an arcade, and nightly outdoor movies makes this place a hit.  Did I mention they throw a pool party every day that includes games like the Limbo and dance offs?  Very cool.  And the theming throughout is truly amazing.  The kids especially loved the Cars themed area where there are life-size statues of all of the main characters from the original movie.  I particularly loved Fillmore. J

 

One last thing I would like to add about this resort is its dining option.  Amazing!  There are individual stations for several different types of foods, including a Mongolian Bar-B-Que and build your own pasta station.  What wowed me the most, though, was their ability to cater to our special dietary needs.  The chef came out to talk to me about my concerns, gave me multiple options, and then prepared the food himself and even was the one to hand deliver it to me!  Special recognition goes to Chef Tony who took our concerns very seriously, changing gloves at least a dozen times during the preparation of our waffles and turkey bacon.

 

Our first day at the parks was at the Magic Kingdom where we arrived an hour before open and stayed until midnight.  Whew!  That was a long and very fun day!!  We ate lunch at Cosmic Rays – once again, amazing customer service and attention to detail.  We ate the rotisserie chicken, allergy-free green beans, and allergy-free French fries (Lucy loves fries and ate them every single day).  The manager Fatiha is who helped us out here and I cannot tell you enough how absolutely amazing she was!

For dinner, we ate at Cinderella’s Royal Table.  The food here was great!  Lucy and I ordered filets with rice and veggies (green beans again for her and asparagus for me) and topped the meal off with raspberry sorbet.  Yummy!  Here, we were offered rolls with herbed oil.  Lucy, having never eaten such a thing did not really like it – however, I savored the opportunity to eat a roll with dinner again without the worry of getting sick afterwards!  Awesome!  We also got to meet many princesses here, a highlight for the kids!

 

On our second day, we had lunch at Animal Kingdom’s Restarauntasaurus.  Great allergy-friendly options here!  Lucy chose chicken tenders (with allergy-free breading) and, of course, allergy-free fries. J 

My wild animals at Animal Kingdom

Our last day at the parks was spent at Epcot – this turned out to be Eli’s favorite park, with Soarin’ being his absolutely favorite ride.  We ate at the Coral Reef, where we, once again, had really great customer service.  Chef Charles prepared Lucy a delicious chicken breast with, ahem, allergy-free fries and I got the Mahi mahi – perhaps my favorite meal of the trip!  If you happen to go there and get Art for a server, you are in for a treat!  Great, great guy and wonderful with kids!

 

The rest of our meals were had at our resort .  Eli loved the pizzas there.  I have to admit, they did look pretty tasty.  We made it a whole week without even one upset tummy or allergic reaction – which is pretty amazing!  Disney is definitely a place I will recommend to anyone with dietary restrictions – but be warned, you will get spoiled!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers!