DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE: Food & Wine Festival 2024

 

Recently, my family and I had enjoyed a day at the Disneyland Resort, where we attended the 2024 Food & Wine Festival at the Disney’s California Adventure theme park. The festival ended on April 22. Below is a selection of the food and drinks I had enjoyed at the festival:




DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE: FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL 2024



BBQ Beef Brisket Slider - This small sandwich with barbeque beef brisket, smoked white cheddar and dill pickles on salt and pepper brioche was my favorite item at the festival. To my joy, I could barely make out the pickles and cheese.





Carbonara Garlic Mac & Cheese - The festival featured a few Macaroni and Cheese dishes with meat (especially pork). However, this old favorite of mine was seasoned with garlic and sprinkled with Nueske’s Peppered Bacon, cheese and bread crumbs. I really managed to enjoy this dish after I had brushed aside the bacon and bread crumbs.





Cheeseburger Bao - This dish was served with Thousand Island dressing, grilled onions, pickle, and tomato relish. This dish seemed okay. But I found the bao pastry too soft and inclined to become soggy. And the ground beef seemed to lack decent seasoning.





Chile Relleno Empanada - I have not eaten a Chile Relleno in years. Eating the dish as an empanada sprinkled with Arbol pepper, salsa and Oaxaca and Cotija cheeses made me remember how much I had enjoyed it. Very delicious.





Huckleberry-Citrus Cooler - This non-alcoholic drink featured Gold Peak Black Tea, huckleberry and agave syrups, grapefruit soda, and lemon and orange juices, garnished with an orange wedge. Quite simply, I found it not too sweet, delicious and very refreshing.





IMPOSSIBLE Beef Stroganoff - I cannot deny that this pasta dish with Egg noodles and IMPOSSIBLE beef, tossed in a mushroom cream sauce garnished with sour cream was delicious. But I was surprised to discover that the IMPOSSIBLE beef did not taste like genuine or artificial meat. Instead, it tasted like mushrooms.



If you had attended the 2024 Disney’s California Adventure Food & Wine Festival, what were your favorite dishes?

HALLOWEEN Images at the Disneyland Resort

 

Below are images of the Halloween celebration at the Disneyland Resort during the past decade:



HALLOWEEN IMAGES AT THE DISNEYLAND RESORT

DISNEY’S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE: Food & Wine Festival 2022

 

Nearly a year ago, my family and I had enjoyed a day at the Disneyland Resort, where we attended the 2022 Food & Wine Festival at the Disney’s California Adventure theme park. The festival ended on April 26. Below is a selection of the food and drinks I had enjoyed at the festival:



DISNEY’S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE: FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL 2022



Carbonara-Garlic Mac & Cheese - This was a delicious macaroni and cheese dish with peppered bacon and garlic. My only complaint was there seemed to be a bit too many bacon bits, making the dish a little too salty.






Gyro-inspired Flatbread with Impossible Ground Beef - I found this gyro-inspired sandwich with ground Impossible beef, chipotle hummus, tzatziki and spiced crispy chickpeas spicy and surprisingly delicious. I believe many vegans and vegetarians may have found it a welcoming addition to the festival.






Honey-Orange-Glazed Verlasso Salmon Salad - This was the only dish at the festival that I did not care for. I had no problems with the salad, the vinaigrette or the pickled chopped black olives and peppers that topped the salad. I did not even mind that the salmon was served cold. However, I thought the latter lacked flavor and could have been marinated before being cooked.






Snickers Caramel-Peanut Milk Chocolate Mickey Macaron - This macaron was probably the largest I have ever eaten. It was also very rich, very sweet and very delicious. Many YouTube influencers claimed that it actually tasted like a Snickers Bar. I cannot say that I would agree. But I did enjoy it very much.






Glazed BBQ Pork Belly - I will say this about the Disneyland Resort. Its cooks seemed to be better at preparing pork belly than their counterparts in Central Florida. I thought the pork belly was cooked perfectly - not undercooked or overcooked. The BBQ sauce proved to be a great addition to the dish. However, the macaroni salad that accompanied it struck me as incredibly bland. I barely touched it.






Aji de Gallina - This Peruvian dish consisted of stewed chicken with spicy yellow chile , along with jasmine rice and olive tapenade. And it was delicious. I honestly believed this would be something of a miss, but I have always been a chicken and rice fan. Although a bit salty at first bite, this dish proved to be my second favorite at the festival.






Black & Tan Beef Potato Puffs - This is it, ladies and gentlemen! This beef and potatoes dish proved to be my favorite dish at the festival. The dish consisted of pot roast with chives, lager micro sponge and tater tots, topped with a Karl Strauss Wreck Alley stout gravy. O-M-G! The flavor of this dish took my breath away. What can I say? Two thumbs up!


Have any of you visited Disney's California Adventure theme park and experienced its Food & Wine Festival recently? If so, what were your favorite dishes?

DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE: A Touch of Disney Food Festival 2021

 

A little over a year ago, my family and I had enjoyed a day at the Disneyland Resort, where we attended the A Touch of Disney Food Festival at the Disney's California Adventure theme park. Below is a selection of the food and drinks I had enjoyed at the festival:




DISNEY'S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE: A TOUCH OF DISNEY FOOD FESTIVAL 2021



Chicken Gumbo - Served with a bit of steamed rice, this is a Louisiana-style stew with chicken, Tasso ham, Andouille sausage, and vegetables. Although delicious, I found it a bit too salty for my tastes.





Grilled Beef Tenderloin Slider - A sandwich sample with grilled beef tenderloin, picked onions and chimichurri. The beef proved to be very tender, but lacked any flavor. Unfortunately for me, the pickled onions and chimichurri was not enough.





Impossible Cheeseburger Mac ‘n Cheese - This dish proved to be a very pleasant surprise for me, considering I usually dislike the mixture of macaroni and cheese with any form of meat, aside from seafood. The macaroni and cheese proved to be solid, but the addition of the Impossible ground meat and special burger sauce really made it enjoyable for me.





Strawberry-Rose Lemonade - Although I found this drink delicious, I also thought it was a bit too sweet. The addition of rose petals sprinkled on top was . . . interesting.





One-Half Monte Cristo Sandwich - This popular dish is a sandwich that consists of sliced turkey, ham and swiss, deep fried in a light batter, dusted with powdered sugar and served with berry purée. It is one of my favorite Disney Park food selections of all time. Although it is usually served in New Orleans Square at Disneyland, the sandwich originated in California.





Pork Belly Banh Mi - This variation of the Vietnamese sandwich consists of marinated and grilled pork belly, pickled daikon, carrots, sliced cucumber, jalapeño, cilantro and seasoned mayonnaise and served in a French baguette. Considering my last encounter with pork belly at a Disney park (Walt Disney World's EPCOT), I had doubts I would enjoy this. The sandwich, thanks to the well-seasoned pork belly, proved to be one of my favorite selections at the festival.





Sweet-and-Spicy Chicken Wings - I really enjoyed this selection of deep fried chicken wings (no batter) with a honey glaze and black sesame seeds spread over them. The dish is served with Togarashi aïoli on the side, but I found the latter bland and unnecessary. The honey glaze provided enough flavor for the chicken.





Walt's Chili - I have always been a fan of the Disneyland Chili, but I did not expect to enjoy this variation with cheese, sour cream, green onions and beef chunks, instead of ground beef. A tad salty, but very enjoyable.





Watermelon Agua Fresca - This drink was surprisingly not that sweet. And yet . . . I really enjoyed. Despite the fact that my family and I had attended the festival on a cool day with overcast skies, this drink with watermelon juice and touches of lime proved to be very refreshing and enjoyable.

Did anyone else attend?

CraftEars on ETSY

CraftEars on ETSY

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Other Food at Walt Disney World Resort

Along with the food I had sampled at EPCOT’s Food & Wine Festival, I also enjoyed the dishes listed below at other parks and resorts at the the Walt Disney World Resort:



OTHER FOOD AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT



Beef Empanadas Platter: Fairfax Fare (Hollywood Studios) - I had purchased this dish, served with rice and some corn salad (don’t ask) at the Hollywood Studios because I had forgotten to sample the empanadas served at the Food & Wine Festival. It was . . . mediocre and not very substantial.





Chicken Pot Pie: Columbia Harbor House (Magic Kingdom) - Despite the lack of a crust, this chicken pot pie proved to be surprisingly delicious. Unlike the image, I had homemade potato chips served with my pie.





Hawaiian Tamarind Flavored Chicken Wings: Captain Cook's (Polynesian Resort) - One could never call me a big fan of chicken wings, but I must admit that these in particular were excellent thanks to the sweet and sour flavor of the sauce.





Land and Sea Platter: ABC Commissary (Hollywood Studios) - My sister and I shared this surprisingly delicious and filling platter that featured chicken strips, pieces of fried fish, shrimp and french fries.





St. Louis Pork Ribs: Flame Tree BBQ (Animal Kingdom) - These ribs have always been a mixed bag for me. When I first had them years ago, I found them disappointing. The last time I had them (seven years ago), they were delicious. This year? They were okay. The cole slaw and baked beans sides were more than delicious.





Sweet and Spice Chicken Waffles: Sleepy Hollow Refreshment (Magic Kingdom) - Served with homemade potato chips, this chicken waffle sandwich was absolutely delicious. However, the chicken may have been a tad too hot at times.





Fish and Chips: Yorkshire County Fish Shop (EPCOT) - What can I say? Well, my sister had said it best . . . they were perfect. Perfect!





Pork Fried Rice: Captain Cook's (Polynesian Resort) - A delicious fried rice dish topped with slow-roasted pork. Although not a big fan of fried rice, I thought it was pretty good. And the amount of roast pork nearly overwhelms the fried rice.





Beef Nachos: Pecos Bill Tall Tales Cafe & Inn (Magic Kingdom) - Well, this dish really blew my mind. This was the best version of nachos; served with ground beef, corn salad, salsa and sour cream; I have ever tasted. And I did not have to deal with any faux cheese sauce (which I loathe) ruining it. Two thumbs up!





Plantation Key Pork Chop: Olivia’s Cafe (Old Key West Resort) - Olivia’s Cafe is known for its fried chicken breast. But honestly, I think this grilled bone-in pork chop, brined and glazed with an apple-white balsamic gastriqu, beats it. Along with the pork chop was an excellent salad made with sweet potatoes, apples, onions, arugula, cranberries, candied nuts, mixed an apple vinaigrette.

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Have any of you can recall any memorable dishes you had experienced at Walt Disney World Resort?