Food, Food, and More Food!

Alex Coleman

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 4, 2017


Introduction
For our April 2018 Disneyland Trip Report, we will go a slightly different direction. Normally, this would just be the landing page for a multiple part collection of Disneyland adventures with the Coleman family. Due to the fact that we only went to Disneyland once during the month of April (I know, the worst!!), it seems silly to do a landing page for one day.

Even though it was only one day, it was a truly epic Disneyland day for Sarah and I! For our anniversary (April 4th for anyone who is curious or wants to send gifts), Sarah and I decided that we would go take part in the glorious annual Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival. I have to admit, this was one of Sarah’s best ever ideas.

During our October 2016 and November 2017 Walt Disney World trips, we went to Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival. This is one of our (and most of the rest of the Disney community’s) favorite seasonal offerings. The food and atmosphere are outstanding. We would save as many of our snack credits on the Disney Dining Plan as possible to wander around World Showcase and eat until we could not any longer.




Sarah and I were not exactly sure what to expect from the California iteration of the food festival. World Showcase lends itself so well to a diverse selection of interesting food so we were curious to see what kinds of food were on display to the world to highlight the California food scene. Needless to say, DCA’s version was not lacking in beautiful diversity.

For those who are unaware of the Left Coast’s version of Food & Wine, it is fairly similar to Epcot’s. There are 14 booths spread throughout the park displaying various California staple foods. The booths are: Citrus Grove, I Heart Artichokes, LA Style, Nuts About Cheese, California Craft Brews, Peppers Cali-Ente, Uncork California, Strawberry Patch, Avocado Time, Off the Cob, Garlic Kissed, Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo, Eat Your Greens, and The Brewhouse. There is also a special festival beer garden and offerings at Paradise Garden Grill.



Guests can either pay cash or credit/debit at any of the booths or Annual Passholders can buy the Passholder Sip & Savor Pass. These passes cost $45 and they include 8 coupons which were redeemable for any of the offerings (other than alcohol). This is the most brilliant Disneyland Food & Beverage idea that has ever existed. I cannot count how many of these passes I saw wandering around the park every day of the festival. I know that these save people money overall, but I doubt that many people would normally buy 8 of these offerings without this pass. It is genius! Sarah and I went ahead and picked up one each and our day of eating commenced.

We Are So Overwhelmed


We left our Intentional Dog at home with our friend Erick (thanks, Erick!) and we sped down the 605 South towards Disneyland. Sarah and I planned on arriving around 1pm on that Saturday, but we hit a lot of traffic on the way (because Southern California) and we arrived at around 2pm. We wandered in through Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa and we quickly ran over to Hollywood Studios to get our Sip & Savor Passes.

After we gave our money to the Mouse, we were faced with the overwhelming predicament of what to eat first. Normally, I would have forced Sarah to create a gameplan and we would have known exactly where we were going. Being that I didn’t, we gave up and jumped in the closest queue. I ordered the Korean Barbecue Beef Short Rib Tacos with Kimchi Slaw for Sarah and I. We sat and watched a child make a brownie sundae with a celebrity chef while we munched on our tacos. We were both really happy with this first snack. The beef was sweet (but slightly tough) and the kimchi was spicy enough to balance the sweetness. Good first dish!



We exited Hollywood Studios and moved towards the heart of the festival. Our next stop was Citrus Grove. This is a booth that celebrates one of Southern California’s historical exports: citrus fruit! Sarah really wanted the Citrus-brined Pork Roast and I really wanted the Crispy Orange Chicken and Rice (if we were both being honest, we wanted the macaron but we were not ready to transition to sweet yet). The pork was really good, but the orange chicken was terrible. The problem was that the Cast Members were far too conservative with the sauce. What resulted was a few piece of dry, deep-fried chicken and white rice without much flavor.





Our next stop was directly across the walkway: I Heart Artichokes. We were not interested in the artichoke dishes. We were there for the Bourbon Chocolate Whoopie Pie. This is a snack that Sarah had seen during our previous visits and could not be without. I came for the macaron, she came for the pie. We sat down and dug into this large treat. I was pleasantly surprised with it. Neither Sarah nor I are bourbon people and we found that the bourbon was subtle. I liked that it added just a little kick to let you know it was there at the end. For bourbon people, you may have complained that there was not enough bourbon in it.

Time For a Food Break!


After we were done with this rich snack, we desperately needed water. Sarah and I walked over to the fountain and we refreshed our palates. We also decided that we were full enough to take a short break from the festival. We were directly next to The Little Mermaid - Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, so we clearly needed to partake. After we were done, we walked over to Disneyland to see if there was anything with a short enough wait to ride. We found that Pirates of the Caribbean and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh fit the bill.



After we were done with those attractions, we decided to sit on a bench between Hungry Bear Restaurant and Rivers of America. This would have been a really relaxing place to sit, but there was an obnoxious group of teenagers who were being loud next to us. This is how I know that I have fully transitioned to adulthood. I am now complaining about the youths!

We walked towards the Central Hub and I took some pictures around the castle. I had my long lens in and I decided to take some shallow depth of field photos of the Partners statue. Even though it was incredibly busy, I was happy with the results.



We joined a mob of people because there was a parade of preteens representing various dance teams that was making its way through the park. Sarah and I parted ways with the back of the parade and decided to watch Mickey and the Magical Map again. We really love this show. I especially love it when I have my long lens and can take close-up pictures of the performers.



Back for More
We decided we were hungry again. By my count, we still had roughly one million vouchers to use! When we returned to California Adventure I decided to get the White Cheddar Lager Soup in a Mini Boudin’s Sourdough Bowl. I didn’t love the soup (I am not sure why I ordered it because I am not a huge fan of beer cheese soup), but I always love some carbohydrates!



I was incredibly thirsty after the soup and bread bowl so we decided to use our credits for one of the delicious non-alcoholic beverage options. Sarah and I ordered the Watermelon Lemonade and it was ridiculous for two reasons: it was ridiculously good and ridiculously sweet. It tasted like a watermelon Jolly Rancher in beverage form.



Next up was something close to Sarah’s heart: garlic! Sarah grew up in a small, Northern California town called Gilroy. Gilroy is exclusively famous for being the Garlic Capital of the World. China may have something to say about its claim to be the global center of garlic production, but I digress. Sarah was so excited that she immediately took to Instagram to share that her little hometown had a dedicated booth at California Adventure.

Sarah also happens to love mac and cheese. To find that there was an option at the intersection of these two loves was world-changing for her. We ordered the Creamy Mac & Cheese with Garlic Bread Crumble from the Garlic Kissed booth and Sarah slipped into a garlic-fueled coma.



While Sarah was enjoying her nirvana, I decided to order something close to my heart: chili! I walked over to the Off the Cob booth to celebrate all things corn with Sweet Corn Nuggets with Beef Chili. We both really liked this dish, even though it had sour cream on top. I have a strange aversion to white creamy substances, but I soldiered on. Sarah and I both agreed this was one of the best savory options we had.



I also ordered the Shrimp Boil Tacos with Andouille Sausage and Fresh Corn which was delicious. We loved the balance of the sweet of the shrimp with the spicy of the sausage. The dish benefitted from the texture of the corn. I also liked that they combined a bit of Cajun inspiration to a taco (because California…?). If I could only order savory dishes, I would probably just post-up at this booth and go back until my vouchers were gone. Sarah actually went back for a second round of these delicious tortilla treats.



While I was in the queue for the nuggets and tacos, Sarah was waiting at Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo. Sarah was waiting for Salt & Beer Vinegar Parmesan Chicken Wings which we were both equally excited about. Unfortunately, this was another dish that fell a little flat. Like the orange chicken, the wings were very bland. I didn’t get much of the beer or vinegar. It was basically a deep-fried chicken wing with some salt on it. I also think that it is a shame that they charged $7.50 for four chicken wings.



Push Through the Wall!
This was the part of the day when we started to wonder whether it was possible to use all our vouchers. We still had 3 to use and we were not sure if we were going to be able to push through the fullness. However, delicious sweets were still to come. I got back into line at Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo and ordered the Orange-Vanilla Cream Float with Whipped Cream. You have to understand that I LOVE orange and vanilla ice cream (50-50 bars for cool kids). I grew up on these frozen pieces of Heaven and I was so ready to experience this in liquid form. I was slightly less encouraged when the Cast Member whipped out a can of Orange Fanta and two scoops of ice cream. The drink was really good, even though the delivery was disappointing. It was also a really big serving of orange soda float.



Our trip through the world of citrus bliss continued with the star of our day: the Meyer Lemon Macaron with Blueberry Marmalade. This was OFF THE HOOK (like anyone even says that any more). Sarah and I were amazed as this tart cookie filled with divine sweet filling melted in our mouths. The lemon was so bright it popped and it was balanced so perfectly by the blueberry marmalade. We loved it so much, we went back for more!



I battled the desire to not eat anything else ever again in my life as I stood in line at Strawberry Patch. I ordered the Strawberry Pineapple Float with Strawberry Popping Pearls. This was also remarkable. I loved the mix of the strawberry beverage with the pineapple ice cream. Sarah mostly loved the strawberry popping pearls. If I had to replace the macaron flavor with one thing, I think I am happy it was this. Just look how happy I was!



For some reason, we decided that riding Goofy’s Sky School on full stomachs was a good idea. We rounded every corner and the food moved vigorously throughout our entire experience. By the time we were done, we decided it was not a good idea to do that again next year.



We walked away from Paradise Pier and towards the Grand Californian. We laid down on a couple rocking chairs next to the large fireplace in the lobby and we rested until we gained the strength necessary to walk back to the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure. Once we recovered enough to walk again, we wandered slowly back to our car and then back home. Mowgli and Erick greeted us at the door and we went directly to bed.
 
Your pictures are amazing! I got full just reading through this and seeing your photos! :) Looks like you had a great time. We're hoping to have a trip coincide with the festival next year. Hopefully they have it again!
Side quesiton: Do you know if you can use the vouchers over multiple days?
 
Thank you so much!!! We had an amazing time stuffing our faces!
Those vouchers can be used during multiple days of the festival. The only thing is that you need to be an annual passholder (or know one who can hook you up ).
 

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