Fans of the Gold Rush Peanut Butter Sundae at Ghirardelli Ice Cream & Chocolate Shop in Downtown Disney Orlando (and fans of peanut butter in general — like me!), take note: Ghirardelli is no longer using peanut butter as an ingredient in any of their ice cream sundaes and chocolates, or as a choice for ice cream toppings.
Why the sudden change? Well, in actuality, it’s not so sudden.
You see, the Ghirardelli facilities began taking steps toward going peanut-free in 2013 in order to become more allergy-friendly for guests with allergy concerns. However, this didn’t affect the in-house sundaes, like the popular Gold Rush (vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, melted peanut butter, and whipped cream) until now, with their removal from the menus in Disney World over the recent weeks. (Please note this update: Disneyland guests can get the Gold Rush Sundae on the west coast — Cast Members there have confirmed that it is the only location where it is still available).
Ghirardelli in Downtown Disney, Orlando
Gold Rush Peanut Butter Sundae
Guests who have allergies — as well as parents of those who have them — may find it helpful to know that, at this time, some products are still made with tree nuts, and
Cast Members can assist with further information.
While unconnected, this change corresponds with the roll out of the allergy-friendly menus at more than 100 restaurants in Disney World and Disneyland, in an attempt to make dining away from home less-stressful for those with food allergies and intolerances.
So while I’ll definitely miss my Gold Rush, I can understand. And for all you diehard peanut butter fans (have I mentioned myself?), don’t forget: there’s always the No Way Jose at Beaches & Cream and the All-American Sundae at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor to keep us more than happy :).
What do you think of the discontinuation of peanut butter use at Ghirardelli? Please let us know with a comment!
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This is a tad frustrating, considering all the latest medical studies show it is not productive to avoid peanuts, and by doing so, will further the allergy to them.
I get the need to avoid allergy-inducing items, but it just seems like political correctness run amok for the majority of the population who aren’t allergic to peanuts.
Besides, what’s the point of chocolate if there’s no peanut butter to go with it?
Especially frustrating since peanut allergies affect less than 1% of the population…
http://www.foodallergy.org/facts-and-stats
Of course the same goes for gluten but Disney is also joining the “health” fad train by making everything gluten even though it doesn’t do anything for the 99.5% of the rest of us.
this is sad for me!…a gold rush sundae is one of my first day traditions :(. I usually dont use a park ticket on my arrival day since I usually arrive in the mid afternoon. I always promptly head over to DTD after check in for a peanut butter sundae and some time just soaking up the Disney magic….I’ll have to find a new first day icecream treat tradition 🙁
Awwwwwww… that makes me sad. Although it does open the door for a sunflower butter sundae…
I think it’s great that they are going more allergy friendly. I don’t have any severe food allergies, but I can understand the stress that people must have to go through.
no! I had it on my list of things I absolutely had to try on my trip in June. Forget it if there’s no peanut butter. That would make the sundae.
But they’re still using cream and sugar. What are lactose intolerant and diabetic customers supposed to do? Eat somewhere else? Ridiculous! Everyone should be catered to to the smallest detail!
First they came for peanut butter and jelly in schools. I didn’t pack that for my son’s lunch so I didn’t say anything. Then they came for the peanuts on the airplanes. I don’t typically eat on planes, so I still didn’t say anything. Then they came for my gold rush sundae. To be truthful, I still won’t say anything. I’ll just go to Beaches and Cream and demolish a No Way Jose. Maybe two – #peanutbuttersundaesmatter.
This kind of thing makes me angry.
Absolutely ridiculous. I don’t care who’s allergic. Simply do not eat what you’re allergic to. “Peanut dust” can not cause an attack, the FDA has been explicit that peanut dust is harmless. I will never buy anything made by Ghirardelli again.
RE: Logan – “This is a tad frustrating, considering all the latest medical studies show it is not productive to avoid peanuts, and by doing so, will further the allergy to them.”
Those studies pertain to pregnant mothers and babies, not the general public. Not eating peanuts will not cause older kids and adults to develop allergies, any more than avoiding shrimp would cause a seafood allergy.
For people with nut allergies, even a small fraction of nuts could cause a life threatening reaction, so complete avoidance is necessary.
Re: Joshua S. “But they’re still using cream and sugar. What are lactose intolerant and diabetic customers supposed to do? Eat somewhere else? Ridiculous! Everyone should be catered to to the smallest detail!”
Anaphylactic shock is a medical emergency. Diabetes and lactose intolerance are not. Though diabetes can be dangerous, especially for those who need to take insulin to regulate, it is usually not an immediate danger. Eating something with a tiny amount of nut residue can cause death in minutes for someone with an allergy.
I know what I’m talking about, I’ve lived with nut allergies for 40 years and wouldn’t wish the experience on anyone.
This is a little off subject . I was at AK in Asia getting the Chicken Fried Rice. I’ve never had it before. I got my kids both kids meals and was told we could not substitute for fries as sides we had to take the carrots and grapes. I had to pay for fries on the side and they would not reduce my price even though I didn’t take the grapes and carrots! I’m a stay at home who also homeschools my children. We do not eat Fast Food, ever!! When we go to Disney we want greasy unhealthy food! Its a huge TREAT to my kids to have fries. They have zero friends and zero family in this area. So trust me when I say they NEVER get fries, chicken nuggets, or burgers. I am willing to pay for overpriced fries as it is a treat. This new allergy and healthy menu at Disney kills are Disney JOY. I understand that many overeat, have allergies, and complain. They want to PLEASE all. Love that about Disney but we should still have an OPTION.
I have terrible shellfish allergies. Will I expect Flying Fish or Coral Reef to give up some of the peoples favorite meals because I, or someone like me, might happen by? Absolutely not. I will order what is not harmful for me. I don’t wish anyone any harm, but if you don’t have an allergy to nuts, or whatever…you should be able to have what you like. I’m not a big peanut butter fan so it won’t affect me, but it’s not right for the ones who want it.
I’m appalled by some of the tone deaf comments. If no peanut butter sundaes means a kid might not accidentally die because another tourist did something stupid and spilled it on a table, then it’s worth it.
Maybe they should think about having dairy free options, as people like myself that love peanut butter, can’t enjoy any of their ice cream!
One more example of the social liberal attitude and lack of personal responsibility these days. “Since I am allergic to peanuts, you can’t have any either.”
As a mom of a son who is allergic to peanuts, I think this is wonderful. I personally love peanut butter on my own sundaes, but it is nice to know that this is a place to go where we can enjoy ice cream as a family without the worry of a reaction! Thanks to Disney for making the World an “allergy friendly” place!
my son is allergic to peanuts. we go to disneyland a lot. we frequent ghirardelli’s. my wife and i like sharing the gold rush. obviously my son isn’t eating this (nor can we eat it near him as he can smell the peanuts at close range). so, we make other accomodations for him. at some point we need to realize we’re all big boys and girls and can take care of ourselves and our kids–don’t take it away from the 95% so the 5% don’t feel “uncomfortable”.
I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with this. I fear this is a never ending road. Also, not having peanut products on the menu does not make the environment totally safe. Customers might just carry them in with them.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Getting a chocolate-peanut butter milkshake for the trip to the airport is my leaving-WDW tradition! And I’m sorry, but those sundaes at the other places are NO substitute because they use crummy Dryer’s/Edy’s ice cream and cheap, flavorless hot fudge—not the Ghirardelli chocolate ice cream and fudge I love. This is a very dark day indeed…. I can only hope that the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain at Disney’s El Capitan Theater in Hollywood is not implementing the same policy.
No matter which way you sway on this, bottom line is… Well… The bottom line. This is also financially beneficial to Ghiradelli both in spending and in liability.
Update: Just spoke to a corporate rep for Ghirardelli (because I take peanut butter and chocolate THAT seriously) and she read me the company’s official statement. Ghirardelli has discontinued the use of peanut products at the *factory* level—meaning no more peanut butter in the packaged products. However, for the soda fountains, the Gold Rush sundae was removed as part of a semiannual menu refresh to make way for new items, not because it has peanuts in it. Although the Gold Rush is off the menu for now, the official verbiage is (and I quote), “It is possible that we will revisit it in the future.”
I’m clinging to that “possible”…
Dan and others, I’m sorry you have allergies, but this is ridiculous. There are plenty of ways for food services to meet the needs of those with allergies without simply doing way with peanuts (0r whatever other food it may be). This is another over reaction.
I can understand that peanut allergies are serious. I myself am lactose lntollerant, and have to avoid dairy products. It would be nice to get something non-dairy at your place. If I eat something with dairy, the consequences can be not pleasant and very serious .
This is completely nuts… pun intended… this is an every trip go to place for us… we will now skip it. They also took sprinkles out of their soda fountain in WDW DTD.. who is allergic to sprinkles???? We went to beaches and cream last trip and yes it was good but the ice cream does not compare to Ghiradelli… this is a very sad thing for us. and Yes I too have a very bad seafood allergy but I don’t expect Disney or anyone else to eliminate shimp from all menus for me…
Seriously? This totally makes me want to walk around with bags of peanuts and my own jar of peanut butter. I get it, I have my own food allergies, but this is just dumb.
This is not fair the population with peanut allergies is less than 5% . It’s not fair to take it away for the remaining 95% . There are many products that don’t have peanuts .
Happy to hear this.
My son is anaphylactic to peanuts and tree nuts. Glad Disney is making it an even safer place.
Unless you yourself have a life threatening allergy or your child you won’t understand.
And as far as gluten free products go, we have several people in my family with Celiac disease. It is not a fad for us. Believe me, we wouldn’t eat everything gluten free if it were a choice.
Those of you that can go anywhere and eat anything, be thankful. Just as I’m thankful we can go to Disney and eat safely.
Well said Dan. I’d like to add that people with tree nut and peanut allergies (myself included) don’t have to eat or even touch the allergens and they (I) will have a severe allergic reaction. While I go back and forth on the political correctness of such decisions, people do need to take personal responsibility, I personally applaud companies that try to accommodate folks like myself who find it scary and even life threatening to eat away from home. (Sadly, as long as there are tree nuts in that building, I still wont even be able to go in there).
“I’m appalled by some of the tone deaf comments. If no peanut butter sundaes means a kid might not accidentally die because another tourist did something stupid and spilled it on a table, then it’s worth it.”
Does this happen often?
Wow….I’m appalled at the level of selfishness that 99% of the posters on this article have adopted. Is your immediate need to have peanut butter available to you at all times somehow more important than my son’s life? Because that’s the stratification you’re espousing based upon your uneducated comments. For thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of children and adults visiting Disney parks on an annual basis, peanut ingestion, inhalation, and/or physical contact can result in a life-threatening reaction. Life with a peanut allergy is exhausting on a daily basis because of general ignorance and annoyance by the public. Let’s all try to espouse the values strived towards by Walt when he built his parks in making them the happiest places on earth. You can safely have peanuts and peanut products anywhere. My son can’t get his life back after a reaction.
I love nuts, as does my husband. However, we became a nut free family 6 years ago when our child had a terrible reaction to tree nuts. So, while I truly understand some frustration toward this change, I personally am grateful. My child is very sensitive and reacts by touch, not just ingestion. I am thankful that this may create fewer chances of her having a reaction during what should be a Magical Vacation.
Ghirardelli sundaes are one of my favorite desserts, and the Peanut Butter Fudge Cupcake from Starring Rolls was also one of my favorites. However, my young daughter was diagnosed with a peanut allergy at the age of one. Since then, I have not been to either establishment (almost 3 years now). I understand everyone elses frustration (I would have had the same reaction 3 years ago), and that there is a slippery slope in finding the right balance between safety for a few without punishing the many. I also understand the “If you can’t have peanuts, don’t eat here” thinking (Except on planes, there is no where to go to avoid them, so if they do serve peanuts, they should make that clear before booking).
I will say though, that eating desserts out for someone with a peanut allergy (And even more so for those also allergic to tree nuts), is severly limiting. There are many options that do not contain peanuts, but 90% of those were baked/manufactured with/near peanuts. Most would probably be fine for my daughter to eat, but unfortunately, we won’t know until it is too late, so we must avoid them all. Ice Cream parlors are the worst, due to the peanuts, reeses, peanut butter, etc… even if you don’t order those, the scoops, tabletops and everything else in the store is cross contaminated. For this reason, my daughter has never been able to eat ice cream from a real parlor (She has been able to have some frozen yogurt or soft serve, but those are sorry excuses for the real thing).
Hopefully later this month, she will be able to enjoy one of the best sundaes on the planet for her 4th birthday, and I can’t wait to see the joy on her face. For my family, this is a huge blessing and I am thankful to Ghiradelli for helping bring joy to my daughter. I am also sorry to those of you who will miss your Gold Rush. Hopefully with the advancements in medicine, we will all be able to enjoy our favorite sundaes together soon.
“I’m appalled by some of the tone deaf comments. If no peanut butter sundaes means a kid might not accidentally die because another tourist did something stupid and spilled it on a table, then it’s worth it.”
I fail to see why a tourist who spills something is stupid. That’s why it’s usually called an accident, and believe me when you are dealing with a large number of kids with motor skills in various stages of development, it will happen.
“Happy to hear this.
My son is anaphylactic to peanuts and tree nuts. Glad Disney is making it an even safer place.
Unless you yourself have a life threatening allergy or your child you won’t understand.”
You’re right that I don’t understand what you go through on a daily basis, and I’m sorry it’s something you have to deal with. That said, I don’t believe that this makes Disney a significantly safer place for your child. If your child is so sensitive that merely being present in a place where peanut products are being consumed is an issue, then this is just a drop in the bucket on the long list of Disney hazards:
— any bench where a child may have consumed a peanut butter sandwich and accidentally left a trace on the seat
— any railing in an attraction line where a child who was snacking on peanut butter crackers may have accidentally wiped their hands
— any quick service location where a family may have gotten drinks or another item and consumed/be consuming any number of peanut containing products brought in from the outside, including Ghiradelli’s
Given that danger literally lurks everywhere in a high-crowd tourist environment for people with severe anaphylactic nut allergies, I don’t believe that this is a case where the needs of the few truly outweigh the needs of the many.
Jennie,
As a mom with a 2yo with a severe anaphylactic peanut and tree nut allergy, I am very glad that you and other people don’t have to deal with the stress and danger that I and other allergy-moms deal with on a daily basis. The reality is that I am always carrying at least 3 epipens (and keeping them at a safe temperature in order to keep them active), Benadryl, and enough safe foods for my boy so that he can eat the entire day.
He has never eaten ice cream or been to a candy/ice cream/bakery due to the risks of cross-contamination.
Even with all these precautions, as you pointed out, all it takes is a park bench, a railing (I am the mom you see wiping down EVERYTHING before he touches it…) to lead him to an anaphylactic reaction.
Every year many children DIE as a result of these anaphylactic reactions.
I’m sorry that you are inconvenienced by this decision, but every decision that decreases the total amount of peanuts and tree nuts in the park makes it a little safer for kids like my son.
All I can say is YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My daughter has as level 6 peanut allergy as well has other life threatening food allergies and as a CHILD she has to miss birthday parties, trips, and other fun things. Disiney is a place for children and I appreciate anything Disney is doing to help keep children safe. If having peanuts is more important then the life of a child then I feel sorry for you.
I should also add 1 in 13 US Children has a food allergies and 80% of deaths from those foods allergies come from peanuts.
When is eating peanut butter a “NEED”? Are we so careless that not serving peanuts for 1 day is going to runin a persons life? These are children for God’s sake have some compassion. I hope if your child, neice or grandchild is ever sick we don’t say “Well you are a minorty, screw you”…..
We have ramps for those in wheel chairs, special parking spots for those who can’t walk, dogs for those to see,should we take away everything that helps the minority??? Just wait, one day you will become a “minorty” and you will depend on the compassion of others.
This is patently ridiculous. How about showing a bit of personal responsibility and refrain from eating foods containing problematic allergens. Stop punishing the rest of us because of a extreme minority have sensitivities.
Where does it end? Some people have dairy allergies, so better just close the whole store then!
So to cater to a select group of people with an allergy, they piss-off a much larger customer base? Makes sense. You would think this company is based in California…oh, wait. We had already stopped going to Ghiradelli, and now there is no reason to go back.
I really don’t understand this I’m allergic to dogs but I don’t expect every person and their service dog to not come to Disneyland for me, I just avoid them its called personal responsibility.
This is quite disheartening, I was yet to try the Gold Rush Sundae and was planning on calling by to get one during my trip this coming August. This really does seem like a tad overkill and that they are capitulating to the needs of the few rather than servicing the many. Its not as if the ingredients are made a secret.
On a more personal note, speaking as a Brit, I think they are turning their back on one of Americas most notable, and dare I say it most under-celebrated achievements, the marriage of Chocolate and peanut butter!
My 10-year-old son is both autistic and allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame. The allergies are not imagined, but real and documented by an allergist, requiring at least one real high-speed trip to an emergency room. We carry Benadryl and an epinephrine pen every where we go.
AND we stock peanut butter in our house, love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, cook with ingredients my son cannot eat, and enjoy items containing those ingredients at the same dinner table with him almost every day. Santa puts nuts in the stockings of all his siblings every single year. We have even eaten sundaes containing peanut butter at Ghirardelli restaurants with him sitting right next to us.
The health crisis of food allergies has been largely overblown and is to some extent self-inflicted from a societal perspective. Despite his learning delay, our son knows to avoid the pertinent allergens and has since he was about five years old. He has been given a degree of responsibility in his own care and it has made in huge difference in his life. We are appropriately attentive in his care, but we neither demand nor expect that any special accommodations be made for us in advance. His health is OUR responsibility.
Heres the thing: The world cannot be made perfectly safe for everyone under every circumstance, no matter how much money plaintiffs’ lawyers make acting like it’s possible. Those who expect such modifications are basically demanding that everyone else live according to their rules, for their sakes and their convenience.
Ghirardelli has every right to modify its business practices to accommodate people with real and perceived sensitivities. (And yes, many of these sensitivities constitute little more than perceptions or layers of paranoia exaggerating real conditions.) As a result, they’ll gain some business and lose some. They’ll lose mine.
But this mentality is what ultimately leads to laws and bureaucracy that mandates nonsense like the extended railings grafted onto the staircases and balconies at the Golden Horseshoe Saloon and cancer warnings at the entrance of every theme park and hotel in California. We could all do with a little less of that, I think.
At this point they should just pull out of Disney all together. First it was the plastic cups, bye bye presentation, bye bye experience, oh and by the way they’re charging you the same price if not more for smaller portions. Now they’re claiming that they’re catering to a relatively small amount of people in order to cut costs. If someone has a food allergy it is THEIR responsibility to address it. It’s not the responsibility of the world at large to suffer along with them.
Thanks Mike…..those were some great comments. I think it’s great that there is a cupcake shop that has everything gluten free. Letting your kids go in and being able to say….”pick out anything” has to be great. Taking away peoples favorites isn’t fair. Although others think otherwise….I don’t think this is selfish.
What!!! It’s my most favorite treat! I love the peanut butter topping! I am crushed?! Really? This is absurd. They ruined it!
To Athos: I hope that one day all of the children of the world will one day be in a position to regard having a sundae without peanuts as “suffering.”
Till then, I commend Disney and Ghirardelli for this step to help peanut allergic children have a fun and safe vacation!
Love it! Thank you Disney for being on top of food allergies! It’s the reason we keep coming back!