Aulani Day 5, Thursday, April 14, 2016, Part 3
As I mentioned previously, DD was medically diagnosed to have a number of
food allergies, including
gluten,
dairy,
peanuts,
tree nuts, and
seafood (fish & shellfish). You're probably wondering how I cook for her or dine out on trips. Yes, it's a challenge, but so far we've been able to get by (albeit with a few relatively minor incidents here and there). There are lots of gluten-free options these days, and in general it's not horrendously difficult to avoid foods that doesn't contain her allergens. My deepest fear is actually with cross contact with other people's foods, such as when a cook doesn't wash his pot between making dishes. I don't know how prevalent this really is as I've never worked in a commercial kitchen, but I sometimes have a hard time trusting mom-and-pop type restaurants because of that.
Now, remember, we had a great experience just two nights ago, so I was very relaxed sitting there in the big pavilion room, thinking we were going to have another lovely dinner. It was a different waitress this time, but like the one we had on Tuesday, she was very friendly and warm. We told her about DD's allergies, and we had dined there recently and enjoyed our meal, blah blah blah. We placed our orders, then chatted among ourselves. Our bread arrived first, then we waited and waited and waited for the gluten-free bread the waitress said she would bring for DD. Finally at 5:36 it appeared (our reservation was at 5).
Normally we carry our Benadryl and Epipen with us everywhere. That particular evening I actually left them in the hotel room by mistake (since I didn't bring my purse with me and only had my room key), but ten minutes after sitting down I suddenly remembered I didn't have them and was about to tell myself we probably don't need them because this is Ama Ama / Disney, and they are excellent with food allergies. But then I thought about our experience on the Disney Alaskan cruise last year (when DD also had two reactions in the dining rooms on board), and decided it was better to be safe than sorry, so I asked DH to go back to our hotel room to get it.
Then our main entrées appeared as well. The waitress served DD some steak with mashed potatoes. I asked her, "Are those mashed potatoes dairy-free?" She answered that yes, it was safe because the chef prepared it for DD, then she left. DD happily spooned it into her mouth; she very rarely gets to eat mashed potatoes as they're usually cooked with butter or cream.
A few minutes later, the waitress re-appeared and said, "Oh I'm so sorry, the mashed potatoes were actually meant for your son because it has
dairy. Your daughter is supposed to have the steak with rice." What?!? Didn't I just ask you whether they were safe and you said yes? If you weren't sure, why did you tell me yes??? I didn't blow up at her, but was furious inside. Is it really
that hard to make sure your guests get the correct dish? Seems like a special red cloth pin, or
something, would've done the trick! I watched DD like a hawk, and sure enough, within a few minutes her lips turned red and a little puffy, and she said her tongue felt weird. *sigh* I quickly gave her the single-dose liquid Benadryl, then waited for her reaction to subside. It pretty much ruined the rest of my meal.
The manager appeared shortly thereafter, apologized profusely, and said they would bring us a replacement dish and comp it as well. DD got a sorbet dessert so she was happy. But when the bill appeared, her dish was not comped. I was going to ask for the manager, but DH advised against it. His reasoning was that they did replace her meal. I was too angry and tired to fight, so I just let it be. But here's the bill:
Grrrrrrr.... It's now been almost two months since our return, and I still haven't written to Disney officially about this even though I had every intention to do so when it happened. I did fill out Aulani's guest survey and mentioned the incident, kinda half hoping someone would call me back, but so far, nothing. I had planned to write Special Services (who take care of food allergy issues for guests) a separate email, not so much to ask for anything, but to urge them to
please train their kitchen and wait staff better. So far I have not been able to gather the energy to do this.
I understand it's a one-off situation--they always are, aren't they? I have heard story after story of amazing service at Disney properties from other food allergy families, of how well taken-care of they were by the CMs, etc. I
know DD has lots of food allergies, but in this case, all we asked was some simple steak cooked with salt, and a plate that doesn't have butter. The kitchen staff prepared it, but the waitress gave DD the wrong dish. I am still sad thinking about it. Good thing DD did not go into anaphylactic shock from this, but people can and DO develop serious reactions, and many have had to go to emergency rooms when something like this happens to them. What then? Everybody will be sorry, but it will be too late. :\
Ok I'm going to start a separate entry because this particular part is dredging up all the unhappy memories of that meal.
P.S.
@MomoMama here's the incident. :\
EDIT: Guest #2 shows the same food allergies--that was for me, but I do not have any food allergies. The waitress suggested doing that so DD could share my lamb.