Destination Information

Allergy Friendly Parks

Disney Disney with food allergies Stories and tips

Storyland New Hamphire click Menu Ingredient guide

Silver Dollar City Allergy information Menu guide and prepakaged snacks and meals available

Hershey Park Allergy information, places to eat

Holiday World Santa Claus Indiana Food Allergy Information

Santa's Village in Jefferson, New Hampshire Food Allergy Information

Sesame Place Longhorne Pennsylvania Special Needs Dining
Jennifer B, from Food Allergy Buzz, Allergy Review of Review Sesame Place

Calaway Park Calgary Alberta
"If someone in your party has a food allergy, cheak with an employee first at each location and they will give you a copy of the ingredients used in each product."

Dollywood Pigion Forge, TN Dietary Needs

Australia Zoo
"A menu has been designed specifically for patrons who have food allergies and intolerences

Dorney Park &Wildwater Kingdom Allentown PA Special diets

* It is always up to you to decide what is safe and plan ahead

Allergy Friendly Baseball Games
Peanut Free Baseball
A collection of information on all the peanut-free, peanut-reduced, food-free and food allergy friendly baseball games around the U.S. and Canada.

Toronto, Ontario with Nut Allergies

Our family recently took a trip to Toronto for a little family vacation. I will admit, I was nervous about food. We spent two nights in a boutique hotel because my husband had stayed there before and knew what to expect. We chose against a family hotel because of the pets and ice cream bars.

Our first night we inteded to have ice cream for dinner at Lootsalicious the peanut free ice cream parlour, only to find out it was closed. I wasn’t familiar with the territory so we weren’t up for searching for the nut free bakeries. We ate dinner at the old stand by – McDonald’s. We were pretty disappointed, however things could only go up from there!

The next morning it was raining! So we hopped in a cab and visited the Ontario Science Centre. We had a great time riding the “magic stairs” aka escalators. There were a couple food areas in the museum but there were also allergen signs mentioning they food labels were available. We didn’t stop for a snack, we went back to the hotel for lunch. They boys enjoyed eating their spaghettios in the cafe. They felt like real business travelers! After lunch they went back to the room to play in their “office,” the desk and chair. I think my son’s favorite part about the trip was the shower! It is pretty magnificent.

Later that afternoon the concierge made a few phone calls for us regarding dinner. She found several restaurants able to accomodate our allergy. We chose PizzaRustica (www.pizzarustica.ca) It is an upscale pizza parlor with a French flair. They do not use pine nuts in their pesto and actually mention food allergy accommodations on their menu. The owner was very knowledgeable and understanding. They also deliver. I took the boys to eat pizza outside just as the Blue Jays game let out. Lots to watch while we waited for our pie! It was very tasty., flat pizza with sauce, sausage and mozzarella cheese. They boys ate 1/2 a piece each, however it was comforting to have a place close by where we could safely eat and take leftovers back to our room for later.

Our trip consisted of hours of walking. We had a great time in the Eaton Center, although I still don’t understand the elevator system. Some floors we could only go up or down not both & if we were on the wrong floor we couldn’t get out without travelling to the other end of the mall. And the ice cream. My kids loved the big fountain in the center of the mall, however all the kids loved the fountain and all the kids had ice cream. Again we had to talk about our allergies. But they forgot about it rather quickly. Daddy met us for a walk and we went back to our room to jump on the bed and watch a movie!!

read more from Chris Popek's article

Second Trip Toronto, Ontario

2nd toronto trip.....we found Richman's peanut free bakery!!! They were fantastic!!! It took 20 minutes to convince my son it was OK to be in the bakery.

We purchased bread, cookies the size of their heads, small cookies, muffins, bagels, donuts, and biscotti. It was definitely worth the drive & our hotel told us they would order bread from there for us for our next stay!!!
We also visited Centre Island. We had a great time on the rides. It was crowded & I was nervous about the food situation but everything was ok. I just wish there had been something safe for my kids to eat, to tide them over. We also visited the fire department on the island...as well as the station on Adelade in toronto!!! We had a great visit. Reviews by Chris Popek from Clean Out The Pantry

Travelling to Amusement Parks:
Amusing? Sometimes

Go to the website of the amusement park you will be visiting and look for allergen information, usually somewhere under food/restaurants. More and more locations are posting this information on their sites. Print it out and keep a copy for reference at the park. HOWEVER, you never know how often the information is updated. Or maybe they ran out of the hot dog buns listed on the site and had to substitute with another brand. You just don't know, so you still need to be on the alert at the park.

With that in mind, look for contact information. Using the Hershey Park website as an example, yes, they do list the ingredients of some allergen-free foods online. They also provide contact information for those with questions about allergens. Use this contact information. Personally, I like to use email because then I have everything in print. Explain your situation, then ask whatever questions you have, such as:

May we bring allergen-free food with us into the park?
Who do we ask at the restaurants to let us see ingredient labels?
Who do we contact if we run into a problem at the park?
Etc.

Even if some of these answers are provided on the website, I like to have them with me in print in an email from a high-ranking employee of the park. Then if I run into any resistance, I can pull out the "permission slip."

This is an especially important technique for parks that don't have as many allergen-free options. We have been allowed to bring food for Katherine to various locations that don't usually allow outside food and have never been questioned. But I had my email copies with me just in case someone asked. In these instances, I had to dig around on the websites a little more to find someone to write to. Sometimes I've used the generic "contact us" address and my email was forwarded to the appropriate person. A reply may take awhile, so as soon as you know where you will be going, start writing.

Traveling with food-allergic children is stressful. Sending them off on their own is even more stressful. So until all amusement parks become as forward-thinking as Holiday World, write those emails. Write them before to ask your questions, and write them after to say, "Thank you."

Posted by Sarah Hatfield at No Whey Mama Blogspot

Trip to Jamaica,
did not go as well as we had hoped

When we arrived, we filled out a form about our allergy, and were told it would be given to the chef. The first problem was there were three restaurants, and we didn’t know which chef. The first night we ate at a restaurant, we asked about the ingredients in the chicken fingers. We were told there were no milk products, but our daughter had a reaction, and later when my husband read the ingredients, there was milk in the ingredients.

So we had planned for that, and had taken a suitcase full of food for our daughter. By the second last day we were there, they finally seemed to be expecting her and asked what special meal we would like them to make, but we said we’d just prefer to use our own food. They were agreeable to heating up a can of soup, or a package of noodles for supper. They did have soy milk. We were also disappointed that the only breakfast option was a buffet meal – fortunately we had taken a box of cereal.

Although we were disappointed (there was also no fridge in our room as we had asked, but since we took all non-perishable goods we didn’t need one anyway), we managed rather well. We had no trouble with customs and taking food into Jamaica, as I had a complete list of what was included in the suitcase, and since we ate/left most of it down there we had no issues on our return.

I was disappointed in Air Transat, as we had requested a lactose-free meal for the plane, and none was available. We were told that specialty meals were not available on flights that were not overseas, but our travel agent was not told that when we requested the meal, and we’ve heard mixed comments about whether or not that is the case.

I guess the long and short of it is that because we were prepared for worst case scenario, we were fine. I think in the future I would either do the same thing (make sure we had food for all our meals), or plan a trip in a location where we could rent a kitchenette, or have access to a vehicle to go to a store and find our own food (I’m not a very adventurous traveler, so hopping in a cab to go to a local grocery store is not a comfortable option for me). Fortunately our daughter’s reaction was mild (although not anaphylactic, we carry an epi-pen). I can’t say the experience was one that gave me any confidence about traveling with allergies. I wish I had a better experience to report.


From Kathie send comments, or questions to resolutewriter@yahoo.ca

Hidden Danger for those who work with planes

Walnut Shells
Walnut shell is also used to clean aircraft engines and steam turbines.

Chemurgy and Allergens

Airplane policies regarding allergies

Aerlings
Inflight Meals/ Special Meals
Specail Assistance scoll down peanut allery information

Aerolineas
Special Services scoll down to special meals

Air Canada
Our policy regarding customers with allergies
Special Meals

Air France
Special Meals

Air Malta
Special Meals

Air New Zealand
Allery Allerts

Air Transit
Special Meal Requests

Alaska Air
Oxygen and Other Special Services

American Airlines
Special Assistance Allergies, Medications And Meals

British Airways (UK)
Travelling with food allergies
Special meals
Inflight meals

Cathay Pacific
Peanut Allergy
Special Meals

Delta
Special Concerns (use drop down menu to select peanut allergies)

Easy Jet
Peanut Allergy

Egypt Air
Special Meals

Emirates
Dietary Requirements

Hawian Air
Special Meals

Ryanair
Question Peanut Allergy

Royal Dutch Airlines
Specail Meals also peanut allergy information

Singapor Air
Meal Requests also has peanut allery information

Sunwing Airlines
Special Assistance scoll down for nut information

United Airlines
Special Meals
Information for customers with peanut allergies (scoll down)

US Airways
Special Meals Peanut Allergy

Virgin Blue (Australia)
Medical Conditions

Virgin Atlantic
Allergies

Virgin Australia
Special Needs
Medical Conditions scoll down for allergy information

Westjet
Guests with Allergies
scoll to What we do for guests with nut and peanut allergies

Airline Information

Blog Posts and Web articles

Emergency Evacuation Insurance May Bring Peace of Mind to Alleric Travelers (2010)

Letter to Canadian Transportation from Debbie Bruce Mississauga Anaphylaxis Group (2010)

AFAA Recomendations (2010)
ANAPHYLAXIS AND FOOD ALLERGY ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA (AFAA) has 20 recommendations and survey regarding flying with food allergies (2010)

Comparing Allergy Policies of Airlines by Avoiding Milk Protein (2010)

Comparing Airlines by Allergic Living (2012)

Airlines by Allergy Safe

The Change.org petition that Elizabeth Goldenberg from Onespot Allergy Blog started continues:

http://www.change.org/petitions/banning-peanuts-from-airlines and currently has 2,898 signatures. However, Elizabeth agrees with the Department of Transportation's (DOT) final ruling that given the provisions of Public Law 106-69, the Department of Transportation cannot take action due to a lack of a peer-reviewed study referred to in the law that determines that there are severe reactions by passengers to peanuts as a result of contact with very small airborne peanut particles of the kind that passengers might encounter in an aircraft. Unfortunately, although the requirement of a study was put into place in 2000, the major US allergy groups have not commissioned that study to date.

NUT FREE FLYING DAY for People with Severe Allergy
I find this to be a questionable petition if Wednesday was no nut flying day, would Thursday be cleaning day, we know how well (not) airplanes are cleaned.

Facebook Groups

Ban Peanuts On Planes

Allergic Reactions On Airplanes

Websites

Vacation With Food Allergies

Allergy Safe Travel

Airline Safety Kit

NFYC Airline Kit - Designed for traveling by air with life threatening food allergies and food related medical issues. This stylish kit offers ample food storage compartments including a compact thermal section to keep foods ultra cold or accommodate a thermos. The detachable medi-pocket houses multiple Epi-Pens/inhalers/Benadryl and airline seat covers. The bag tag offers pre-boarding tips. When the NFYC Airline Kit is not being used for travel, it is a great lunch kit for every day use.

Recommendations

Allergy Association of Minnesota presented 20 recommendations, in hopes of influencing policy . Also the group released the results of their survey, regarding flying with food allergies read post on this.

Airline Seat Covers

Plane Sheets PlaneSheets offers today's travelers an innovative and practical way to personalize their travel space while keeping at bay germs, crumbs and spills from previous passengers.

New Seat NewSeat.com covers are packaged with 2 covers and 2 cleansing wipes per bag. The covers are comfortable and hygienic, providing 100% coverage of the seating and back surfaces. Cleansing wipes provided for additional sanitation and peace of mind – armrests, airline tray tables, etc.

Airline Covers Sold on Amazon