Laugh at the end of this very long review when you remember that on this day, I was wearing a shirt that says "I'm just here for the food".
Because it's true. I pick vacation spots based on being able to eat out. And Disney is always hands down the best place.
Remember the one thing I told DH when I was planning? No buffets. The kids love buffets. All four are athletes who can put away some food. And they love character meals (DS13 and I leave in two weeks and he has 4 character meals booked!) So I was adamant on no buffets. This night we originally had Flying Fish booked, but once we were on the dining plan, we would have only had one credit left or we would have to pay OOP for two meals instead of for just Kona. I wasn't giving up Narcoossees, so we canceled Flying Fish and figured we'd play this night by ear.
Everytime we walked past the Beach Club, or walked in the Beach Club, DH was eyeing Cape May. My man loves him some crab legs. Being from the landlocked Midwest, his vacation preferences are usually anyplace we can get seafood. If we won the lottery I'd move to Tahiti. He'd go to Maine. So, the constant moaning about how we were right next door to all you can eat crab legs wore me down, and I booked Cape May for him. And grumbled about it. A lot.
So, what is about to happen we can fully blame DH for:
Now, I went in with a good attitude and I was ready to eat. I can do some damage on crab legs too. I'm okay with this.
We were seated next to a family of 6 that were pissed off. They had been seated 45 minutes past their reservation time and weren't quite vocal about it. Not obnoxiously so, but it's pretty much all they talked about. The manager came over and comped some of their meals and offered them extra fastpasses for the next day for their trouble. It didn't go too far with them because they were there for a tournament but eventually they got happy. Remember that the manager was right on top of it.
The waitress came over with her notepad and asked about the allergies. I listed all four and said baked eggs were okay. She asked if I wanted her to list eggs at all and I said yes and she wrote it down. She handed me an allergy list of what's on the buffet and asked if I would want the chef to walk me through since tomato isn't on that list. I said yes and the chef came over.
I listed all the allergies to the chef and she wrote them down. She walked me through the buffet and said she could make a safe Caesar salad. I'm thinking that's super cool because that's definitely something I don't eat anymore. She walks me to the dessert table and points out a couple of things, one being a custard type thing. I ask about eggs and she realizes it wouldn't have been baked eggs and tells me not to get that. She says she has Erin McKenna cupcakes she can bring for me. I head back to the buffet now having a plan and go make my plate. I just sit down and she brings over this gigantic plate of Caesar salad.
And a few pictures of our plates from the buffet
Now, I'm digging into my salad because I don't get mayo based salad dressings anymore. And this one is so good and has tons of dressing on it. I'm in heaven
Until I realize that my mouth is burning.
And my chest is itching.
I look at DH who decides my face is red.
(seriously, people, I'm almost having a panic attack writing this!)
I flag down our waitress. "Um, can you ask the chef if that salad is egg free?" She grabs the plate and takes it to the chef, comes back empty handed and says one thing
"Do you need a Benadryl. Or an ambulance?"
While she was talking to the chef, I had already taken a Benadryl and a Zofran for nausea. I'm very lucky that egg isn't going to make my throat close up (peanuts yes, eggs, no) . But it gives me hives, makes my mouth and lips burn, makes me itch from head to toe. And makes me vomit. I'm literally sitting there in this stunned silence. So I tell her no, I have Benadryl and an epi pen and she leaves. I had to kind of yell after her to bring us the check.
Okay so funnily enough, DH is SHOVELING food in his mouth at a stupid rapid pace because he is not about to leave any food behind and gosh darnit, he is going to get his money's worth. He even made a run to the dessert table.
Now, this is where I'm so upset about the whole thing. Accidents happen. Stuff falls through the cracks and I'm very lucky I'm not going to die right here at the table, but the way this whole thing was handled was horrific.
Our waitress left. And we waited. I just need to go. The family of 6 next to us asked if they had fed me something I was allergic to and are offering to take us to the ER, to our resort (which is right next door so we are okay) People at every table around us here everything that's going on. And we waited some more. At this point I have hives on my legs. I'm literally just stunned. My Disney bubble was so burst and I just needed to get out of there before I threw up or started looking worse. My husband has known me since I was 9 years old and said "I have never seen you look this devastated before"
The chef walks over 10 minutes later and says "I'm sorry this happened, but you didn't tell me about the egg allergy until we were at the dessert table". One, wrong, I told her before we even left our table to walk the buffet. Two, it was on our reservation. Three, the freaking waitress wrote it down before she even went to get the chef.
I just kind of wheeze out "Even so, you brought me the salad AFTER we left the dessert table, so you KNEW I had an egg allergy before you put that salad on the table"
And she literally just walked away.
The waitress came over as soon as the chef left and dropped our bill and these on the table
At this point I have visible hives on my neck so I use the epi pen. And I go to hunt down a manager so I can freak out before we go back to Yacht Club and decide if the epi pen is going to help or if we are going to the ER.
People, I'm in an allergic reaction and have to go HUNT DOWN the same manager who comped meals and offered fastpasses to people who got seated late.
And this manager was as horrid as the chef.
When I said we were going to miss our Illuminations fastpasses (DH has never seen Illuminations) she told us to go ahead and go to Epcot because if I got worse they could have me transported to the hospital from there.
It's 100 degrees. A Friday night in June. Thousands of people in Epcot watching the fireworks and she expects me, on Bendaryl and an epi pen, covered in hives and probably vomiting, to go watch fireworks because the EMTs might be able to find me if I get worse.
I'm not a crier. I honestly only cry when I'm really mad. And I was livid. So I burst into tears and walked out, kind of yelling over my shoulder that they were going to kill someone someday and apparently I had to stop breathing for someone to realize they were wrong. I'm not pretty when I cry. And I'm shaking from anger and using the epi pen. Probably had a little snot going too. And I'm digging at my chest to stop the itching. I probably really looked fun. Surprised they didn't have me arrested.
So we barely made it back to YC, where I promptly barfed. Because I'm classy like that. But, after a long while in cold AC, lots of water, a lot of puking, I started to almost feel human again. DH went down for Sprite and while he was gone I heard the room phone ring but I ignored it. DH grabbed the message when he got back and it was the manager of the YC. Apparently someone had told management at BC there was a problem at Cape May and they tracked us to our room from our reservation and called YC. They offered to send up a doctor, food, drinks or anything I needed. They called again later that night because they were afraid I had gone to the ER. So score a point for YC.
Now to wrap it up, I was given an email address by the YC staff and fired off an email as soon as we got home. I did start with praising all of the good experiences we had and named names of chefs an wait staff. Then I went step by step of what happened at Cape May and how it was handled. I hit send and within a day my phone rang.
Disney doesn't like it when you tell them someone they employ tried to kill you
I'm not going to go too many details other than they did refund our money back from Cape May and were exceedingly apologetic and mortified and they threw in some extras that DS13 and I will be taking advantage of next month.
And we will not be eating at Cape May.
Ever. Ever. Again.
