Food Allergies and Universal Studios Florida

We've known that Walt Disney World is great when it comes to dealing with food allergies. I wasn't sure about the other Orlando area parks.

Recently our family went to Universal Studios Orlando with dairy, egg, peanut, tree nut and shellfish allergies. I contacted Universal by e-mail before we went and I got both a voice mail and e-mail response. Each messages assured me that the chefs and managers at the Universal parks, City Walk and Universal hotels were well-equipped to handle food allergy concerns. I was told that eating at a full-service restaurant where we can talk to the chef directly might be our best choice.

So, how did we make out, you ask? Very successfully, I'm happy to report.

• We had lunch at Bubba Gump Shrinp Co. on Universal's City Walk We spoke to our server and then the manager about food allergies. They brought out packages for us to read labels and talked to us about preparation. They communicated with the chef throughout. My son had a burger, jell-o and orange wedges. He had to pass on the fries as they are fried with shellfish items.
• We had dinner at the Buger King Whopper Bar on CityWalk at Universal Studios. We knew Whoppers were safe, so I just confirmed their cooking practices and ingredients and informed the staff of the food allergies.
• We had a wonderful lunch poolside at our Universal hotel, Loew's Royal Pacific. The chef and manager talked to us, along with our server. The chef said he could make anything from scratch for our food allergic son and would use a separate kitchen to ensure there was no cross-contamination. He chose chicken tenders and french fries. Both were freshly made and served in a huge quantity. We all picked off my son's plate. It was fun for his menu choice to be the favorite.

Universal made this an easy vacation for us. I only brought snacks for our two days there and our family was really able to practice talking to the right people and making sure that everyone understood what we needed. This was a good lesson for my food allergic tween who will need to manage his allergies at restaurants on his own in the coming years.

Great job Universal Studios Orlando!