Recently our family was lucky to experience the "happiest place on earth," aka Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
I thought it would be fitting to read current CEO Robert Iger's book, "The Ride Of A Lifetime" about his experiences at the Walt Disney company during vacation to keep up my learning in the flow of life mantra.
The prologue gripped my attention immediately as Robert Iger described his saddest day as CEO of Disney. He told the story of a little boy named Lane Graves that was killed by an alligator at The Grand Floridian, the resort where our family stayed.
As a father I cannot begin to imagine the horror of being at Disney enjoying a family vacation one minute and lose your son the next minute to such a tragic situation. Robert Iger spoke to the father of the little boy who asked him to promise that he would do whatever it took to prevent it from ever happening again.
As an allergy parents, the alligator we fear is something every one of us needs to live and is found everywhere - food. Our son Jack is allergic to milk, egg, peanuts and tree nuts. Eating at a restaurant or theme park is normally out of the question. That's almost everywhere but Disney! The cast members at Disney including chefs, servers and everyone in the food service areas take food allergies seriously.
At our first dinner at the Tusker House in Animan Kingdom, chef Richad told Jack they would treat him like a prince and gave us tremendous confidence. At Le Cellier in EPCOT, chef Sam listened to our description of Jack's allergies and his preferences and brought Jack a bun with his favorite non-dairy butter. Jack was on cloud nine!
And every day at The Grand Floridian, chefs Cheryl, Tim, Jose and the staff provided wonderful food that tasted great and kept Jack safe.
While Walt Disney has been gone for many decades, I am thankful for the company he started and the commitment Robert Iger and cast members have made to create magical moments while keeping our children safe.
Learn In The Flow Of Life
Jason
Shout out to Pixie Lizzie - Magical Food Allergy Travel too!
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