Disney World with allergies and sensitivities.

The mention of Disney World in my last post got me to think about our Disney trip.  I wanted to mention a few things that most people don't know and Disney World doesn't widely advertise.

Did you know you can take food into Disney World? Yep you can. If anyone asks just tell them you have food allergies. Yes, I told them allergies not sensitivities. I did not want to go into the details and I am sure the person at the gate didn't want me to go into details either. We never bought anything but water when we were at Disney World. Even then we would all carry in a bottle of water and refill it from drinking fountains. But a couple of days it was hot and we just wanted cold water so we bought cold bottles of water a few times.

We rented a house near Disney World from Home Away. I am not recommending their site 100% but it worked for us.

We drove to Disney World. So I could pack coolers, specialty foods, pots, pans, and utensils. I packed all the can't live without specialty foods that I didn't want to risk not being able to find.

I goggled all the grocery stores in the area and printed maps and addresses to each one. (Don't get hung up on finding the chain you use locally. I really liked Publix but I had sticker shock from the price increase of the foods. However, they weren't much more than the super Target and were a better quality.)

Before we went I created a meal plan for each day that include snacks. The meal plan included the days we were driving to Disney World and home.

I then planned which days I would go shopping and created specific shopping lists for each shopping trip. I planned when I would bake or cook. This takes considerable amount of time so don't overlook allowing yourself time to cook and bake when planning where you are going that day.  A couple of days I made two meals and put the leftovers in the fridge so the following night I wouldn't have to cook.

We had a blast. The trip did require a lot of work for me. A couple of times I started a little pity party for myself. It would have been so much easier to just buy food or go out to eat. However, I tried not to let the pity parties last very long. I do need to accept the restrictions food sensitivities place in my life and stop comparing what I am doing to everyone else. This is a work in progress for me.

So Disney World is possible and it can be fun even if you have food sensitivities or allergies.