Michigan PKU

Cambrooke Foods has been working in accordance with Disney’s Culinary Development & Special Dietary Needs Team in an effort to make low protein foods available to all of Disney’s PKU and Allied Disorders guests.

The phone number to call to make your dining reservations at Disney’s Table Service restaurants is: 407-939-3463. You need to indicate the special diet requirement as PKU. The Cast Member will document this information on the dining reservation and give you a reservation number and a phone number to contact the location to discuss your needs.   

Disney currently carries MixQuick and a variety of our low protein pastas.  Their list of Cambrooke Foods groceries will increase this month to include the following: 

MixQuick – for Belgian Sweet Waffles and Disney Character Pancakes

Home Style Sliced White Bread – for sandwiches and garlic toast

American Cheese Singles – for grilled cheese

Macaroni and Cheese

Camburgers

Penne Pasta

Portabella Spinach Ravioli

Alfredo Sauce 

*Please take advantage of Disney’s talented chefs whose ability to create a magnificent low protein culinary experience is unsurpassed.

We had dinner reservations at Chef Mickey's Restaurant at the
Contemporary Resort.  If my memory serves me right, you can take the monorail there
or a shuttle from the Magic Kingdom.    It is buffet style food, so there
were fruits and salad there for Drew.  Also, baked potato.  Chef Allen made
Drew a Loprofin Penne pasta dish in a vegetable broth.  He came out and met
with Drew and asked him what he wanted first and with what kind of sauce or
broth.  Drew likes garlic and butter more than marinara, but I am sure
he could have done that too...DW has a lot of Loprofin products on hand
and with reservations and being in contact with the dietary needs dept, you
can usually get them to make sure they have something for your child at the
restaurant you are going to.  Lots of characters there (like Chip and
Dale, Mickey, Goofy, Pluto maybe others)

At Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom, we had dinner there which
is served family style.  They had family size helpings of corn and rolls
and stuff and again they prepared a pasta dish for Drew.  They also made
him a wonderful fruit and sorbet dessert.  This is a great place to celebrate
birthdays.  They brought Alexis a b-day cake we had pre-ordered for the
whole family to eat.  They sang to her and had lots of characters there
too.(like Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale maybe others)

We did the Good Morning Gathering which I think was only if you had the
group of at least 8 or something.  They made Drew Mix Quick pancakes
(the mix we brought, I think) with blueberries and strawberries on top. 
They had characters here too and did dancing with the characters and also wished
my mom and Alexis a happy birthday, acknowledged b-days publicly and sang
to them.

Donald's Prehistoric Breakfastosauraus is at the Animal Kingdom and is
also filled with characters.  Again, they made Cambrooke Mixquick pancakes
with strawberries and whipped cream on top for Drew.  They had buffet type
food here too, I think hashbrowns, pancakes, bacon, muffins, dry cereal,
juices, etc.  Very PKU friendly too.

We ate at Planet Hollywood at Downtown Disney too.  They are not a part
of Disney, but we took baking mix and asked them to do a pizza for Drew
and they were very accommodating there too.

In Epcot World Showcase, they have a McDonalds (not full service with a
full menu) but they do have the infamous PKU fries :-)

At Epcot near the Living with the Land ride, they have a food court
that has lots to choose from -- salads and stuff like that...

And again Pop Century Resort had a food court that had pre-made salads,
fruit cups, dry cereal, juices, fries, and they were very helpful in
preparing what we wanted for Drew in terms of low protein foods too.

We have had many great experiences with Disney Dining.  The best one
that we do at least twice every visit is Chef Mickey's Character diner.  You
have to call ahead and make a reservation and tell them about a dietary issue
PKU. They will give you a number to speak directly to the chef about a week
ahead of time and he will discuss entree and dessert options.  We usually do
pasta and ice cream for dessert as well as other fruits and veggies on the
buffet.
  Disney is very accomadating and will order food in advance of your
arrival. We did Cindy's breakfast at the castle and my kids had
pancakes and fresh fruit. Other restaurants we ate at mostly had lo pro pasta served
with marinara sauce, then the kids could have veggies and fruit and of
course french fries. However, I have heard of other families having more
elaborate meals prepared for them, so I guess it just depends on the chef you're
dealing with.

  Just calll WDW-DINE to make your priority seating reservations. At
that time, tell them your kids have PKU and it is on their "list". The
person will give you the number of each restaurant, and it is up to you to
contact the chef and tell him what you would like ordered. Just make sure that
you confirm the meal plans at least a couple of times before you leave.
Some places are better than others about communicating with the staff that
will actually be there when you visit.
 
You may talk directly to the chef, and you can actually plan a meal. 
The best one we experienced this past November was the character meal
(Minnie, but not Mickey, and friends) at the Liberty Tree Tavern in Magic
Kingdom.
Chef Mike, who came to our table saying he was "expecting" our
daughter, made her a meal that matched ours.  The meal is turkey, ham and roast
beef, with biscuits, and apple cobbler for dessert.  Chef Mike made our
daughter low phe biscuits, low phe pasta, and a low phe apple cobbler.  She said
it was the best meal she ever had in a restaurant, and it really made her
feel "special" (her words).   She also told Chef Mike he was even a better
cook than Mommy!  Other places there do similar things, such as making low
phe strawberry shortcake for dessert.  They will even make low phe pancakes
at the Cinderella and Princess breakfasts.

You must call 407-WDW-DINE.

Disney needs 2-3 weeks notice to accommodate and make a "Priority
Seating Request."
 

  I saved this because we are also going in the spring. Hope it
helps-also if you go to www.allears.net they have suggestions. We are
renting a townhouse in Windsor Palms-very close to Disney and a great
place to stay and be able to cook for alot cheaper than the hotels! Private
pool and play area and big pool for the girls. 

I first contacted Embassy Suites where we were staying and they have a
great cooked to order breakfast.  They had no problems with me bringing them
the Cambrook MixQuick and making her some pancakes.  So every morning I
gave them in a baggie with 1/2 cup MixQuick and they added 1/3 cups water
and Nicole had fresh, hot pancakes.  Plus they have fruit and cereal.  So
breakfast was great.  For lunch we had reservations and I just called Disney
Reservation Center (thanks to Denise Rogers for that number) 407-939-3463.  I only made
these reservations less than one week away from our trip.  Now, the
Cinderella lunch was already booked but in Magic Kingdom we got reservations at Crystal
Palace, Pooh and Friends lunch.  I never talked with anyone but the guy
who took all the reservations, I let him know there was a diet
restriction and that it was PKU, that is listed on their diet restrictions and he
put me on hold and called the restaurants and then let me know they had PKU ingredients. 
I had no idea what that was but it worked out great.  Crystal Palace is a
buffet and was wonderful for Nicole and she had lots of fruit, veggies and salad.  We
told our server about the PKU and the Chef came out to talk to us and later
brought her some low protein pasta with a red sauce.

The next day we had reservations at Rainforest Cafe in Animal Kingdom.
Again the chef came out and then brought Nicole pasta with a red sauce
and a surprise,  a plate of little meat(less) balls.  He said Dietary Spec. had sent him
a mix and this was the first PKU person since he received that.  He said
it was alittle sticky in the pan so he then put them in his pizza oven.  Nicole can be picky with it comes to these
things but she liked them okay.  I tasted one and thought it was good. 
They were just little maybe 1/2 inch balls.  

Just a reminder- There are a few PUBLIX markets in the Orlando area that carry low protein products. They do no ship products but it is fun to shop in a grocery store for these specialty products! Check the Florida PKU website for an update of the locations and what they currently stock.