WDW Foodies Take Disneyland-April/May 2019 (San Diego/DL DTR) Completed 6/23

[fallonkendra]

Joining in! You have some of my favourite Disneyland restaurants on that list so I’m curious to see how you felt about them!

 

[princess aleya]

Following along, can’t wait!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I am here!!! Can't wait to read all about the food (and the trip)

 

[Raeven]

Following! I'm looking forward to your reviews!

Thanks for following along!

Joining in! You have some of my favourite Disneyland restaurants on that list so I’m curious to see how you felt about them!

Thanks for following! I actually read some of your reviews when I was deciding on restaurants!

Following along, can’t wait!

I am here!!! Can't wait to read all about the food (and the trip)

Thanks for following! ​

 

[Raeven]

Is That It?
aka Airport Dining (Denver)

I'm going to majorly disappoint because this first entry probably doesn't even deserve it's own post
On the first day when we got delayed we ended up eating Moe's before the airport, and I think we got Starbucks at the airport, but I didn't take any pictures because I decided that didn't count yet.



In the morning I wanted to grab some breakfast before our flight, and I love bagels. So I decided Einstein's Bagels would be perfect. We don't have any around here, and I don't eat bagels a lot.

Sure Einstein's had many, many interesting different combinations and flavors but I went with a classic plain bagel and plain cream cheese. Not very exciting, but how would I establish a baseline for how good their bagels are unless I tried a classic first?



The line was kind of long and moved very slowly. In the course of that line a couple almost spilled a whole water bottle on me, and a lady tried to sneak her way up further into the line by going to the end and asking if everyone else was "really waiting in this line". Like do they think all the people will suddenly go "what?! I was waiting in a line, oops" and leave

Here is the bagel in question:



Josh just got a coffee so that's all for the Denver airport






​

 

[Raeven]

Sampling the Sevens Seas
Aka Seven Seas Food Festival (Seaworld)

When we entered Seaworld the park was pretty packed. It was the last weekend of the Seven Seas Food Festival, and from the crowds I would guess the festival is pretty popular. We had pre-bought a 15 tab sampler (which spoiler alert ended up being too many tabs for us) for $65. I was going to work out if we got our money's worth even though we didn't use them all (I'd like to think we were at least close), but I couldn't really find the prices listed online anywhere for all the booths. I did find that the average item was about $5-7, and I know at least one of the ones we got was closer to $9.
Our first order of business was getting Josh some food because he was starving. They had put up a gluten free guide online, and that seemed to work pretty well. Although the people at the booths seemed unsure most of the time, the guide didn't steer us wrong. Most of the items looked like they were pre-made and stored separately then assembled from what I could see so it didn't look like there'd be any cross contamination.

The first booth we came to was in the SoCal Flavors section and was called Bacon Flavors.

Josh got the:

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenders
Herbed Soffritto, Micro Chives



He ate this quickly because he was hungry, but thought it kind of flavorless.

I went to a booth in the same area called Pretzel Flavors.

I got the:

Sautéed Pretzel Knots
Asiago-Pomodoro Dip



These tasted like they were part garlic knot, part pretzel, and the dip was like a creamy and cheesy sauce. These were really, really good, and probably my second favorite thing that I ate all day.

Looking for a booth we could both find something at we headed to the Latin American Flavors section where the Nuevo Baja booth had pretty much all gluten free food.

I got the:

Chile Queso Pupusa
Avocado, Queso Fresco, Pico

& Josh got the:

Angus Barbacoa Tacos
Jalapeno Pepper Jelly Crema, Cilantro
Mine was really flavorless, but hugely filling because it was a thick corn tortilla so I only had some of it. Josh tried some and didn't like it either. It was just cheese on the inside and outside, but it was a pretty flavorless cheese. I assumed there would be some kind of meat in it because usually chile queso dishes have meat in them. I also did ask them to leave off the pico, but now I'm seeing it was supposed to have avocado on it as well. They never mentioned it at the booth, and I'm wondering if they didn't have any or if they left it off because they assumed I meant that too. I don't know how much it would've helped, but any added flavor would've improved this.



Josh said his tacos were pretty spicy. I didn't try any because spicy is not my thing. I'm not sure if he really loved them either, and I think we should've ordered them without the pepper jelly on top.

We were now in the Island Fusion Flavors section at the Polynesian Flavors booth.

I got the:

Loco Moco
Wild Impossible Patty, Gravy-Fried Egg & Fragrant Rice


(This area had a stage show to go with the Polynesian theming
but it wasn't currently being performed so it was more of a sitting area then).

The Loco Moco also had mushrooms and tater tots in it which weren't mentioned in the description. I assume the gravy was a mushroom gravy since I think this dish was entirely vegetarian. It was also gluten free, but Josh didn't want any.

This was my first time having an Impossible patty, and I was curious to try it. Honestly I thought it tasted just like a hamburger. You really couldn't tell it wasn't meat in my opinion. While I eat beef, chicken, bacon, and sometimes turkey, and I'd probably never give up eating meat. I am kind of picky about cuts of meat and I'm not the best at cooking it so I like trying alternatives to it. I've had black bean and quinoa burgers before, and while I like black bean burgers this was definitely the closest alternative I've had that still tasted like an actual burger.

It was really delicious and all worked really well together, and ended up being my favorite thing at the festival. My only small complaint was that some areas could've used a dash more gravy but mixing it up a little helped with that.


Afterwards we took a break from eating for our tour, but when we made it to the other side of the park we tried a few more dishes.

At the Tuscan Flavors booth I got the:

Panna Cotta & Cannoli Duet
Creamy Passionfruit & Pistachio Crunch



I think this was my favorite dessert. The cannoli shells were nicely crispy which isn't always the case and especially with food like this that I assumed was pre-made I thought the shells would be soggy. The panna cotta was also really fruity and creamy. They were both delicious.

At the French Cafe Flavors we got the:

Trois Fromages
Fresh Dairy, Blue Veined & Aged



I was a little disappointed in this cheese plate because the online picture looked different and I thought it was marked gluten free, but there were cracker type things all over the cheese (in the picture these were either on the side or not on the dish at all). Maybe these were gluten free crackers, but it didn't seem like they were and we didn't want to take the chance. Josh sampled the 2 cheeses that weren't covered by the crackers though.

The dairy was our favorite it tasted the most average though, the aged tasted like goat cheese to me (which I don't like) and neither of us were a fan, the final one I tried myself was a blue cheese which was a little strong. I like blue cheese but I can't really eat it straight. The cracker I liked best kind of tasted like a cheez it with seasoning on it. I'm almost 100% convinced that's what it was.



We also got the:

Decadent Chocolate Mousse
Honey Crunch Chocolate Nibs



This was also gluten free so Josh could have some. I liked that it had caramel on top which was a nice surprise since it hadn’t been in the description. It was a good chocolate mousse, but we were both pretty full and wanted to save room for dinner since it was getting closer to dinner time so this was our last dish of the festival.

The only dish I feel like I missed out on that I wanted to try was the banana nutella crepe. But there was no way I could also eat a crepe when we got to the last booth. We did use a few of our tabs for water bottles throughout the day so it wasn't many that went to waste. Not all the booths let us use them in exchange for water, but some did. The only thing we bought outside the sampler pack was a coffee for Josh. I think we would've used almost all of them if that one drink stand had been serving the signature drink though since we both wanted to try that.

Honestly I liked just about every dish I had except the Chile Queso Pupusa and some of the cheeses. Josh didn't have similar luck, and nothing really stood out to him that he had. I do think they had a good amount of gluten free options, but I don't think all of them appealed to him. I'm not the most adventurous eater, but if I'm going to get adventurous anywhere it's a food festival where the portions are smaller so I don't feel like I wasted money if I don't like it/finish it all.

Compared to other food festivals I've been to at Disney this one probably didn't have as many options as say Food and Wine, but had more dishes I really liked than some of the other Epcot festivals I've been to.

In comparison to other Seaworld festivals we've been to (the only other one we've been to is the Christmas one in Orlando) I'd say this had more/better choices. I found the Christmas food booths in Orlando relatively disappointing, and the food here was pretty good. Overall I didn't love the food at Seaworld Orlando (even outside the booths), but this was on par with some of the better food festivals I've been to. If I were in San Diego (or Orlando because they have this same festival with different dishes) during this time I'd probably check out this festival again.

​

 

[amalone1013]

Josh just got a coffee so that's all for the Denver airport

We typically eat at the place next to Einstein, it's pretty decent food but also a big part of the draw is that we have a credit card that gives us $56 in credit towards food there, so we just have to leave a tip. If we're in a hurry Einstein is now my go to (though the line is slow for... bagels... Zack likes to go to the Villa Pizza across from it even though he is disappointed every time

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenders
Herbed Soffritto, Micro Chives

He ate this quickly because he was hungry, but thought it kind of flavorless.

That's disappointing because they look like they would be good!

Sautéed Pretzel Knots
Asiago-Pomodoro Dip

These tasted like they were part garlic knot, part pretzel, and the dip was like a creamy and cheesy sauce. These were really, really good, and probably my second favorite thing that I ate all day.

How can you go wrong with something part garlic knot part pretzel? These look yummy!

I am kind of picky about cuts of meat and I'm not the best at cooking it so I like trying alternatives to it.

Agreed. I'm also scared to order steak at not nice steak places, because I worry about the idea of spending that money and then it not being cooked to my liking. We attempted grilling steaks for Mother's Day Or Zack did lol. It did go okay, though it was a little undercooked for everyone else - I eat mine a tad rarer than his family anyways, but I also had a thinner steak and just in general it was more medium vs medium rare. I used to always go medium rare but, going back to that not being cooked to my liking thing... I've run into too many 'too medium rare for me' steaks at cheaper places so now I only go with that at somewhere like Shula's.

Compared to other food festivals I've been to at Disney this one probably didn't have as many options as say Food and Wine, but had more dishes I really liked than some of the other Epcot festivals I've been to. In comparison to other Seaworld festivals we've been to (the only other one we've been to is the Christmas one in Orlando) I'd say this had more/better choices. I found the Christmas food booths in Orlando relatively disappointing, and the food here was pretty good. Overall I didn't love the food at Seaworld Orlando (even outside the booths), but this was on par with some of the better food festivals I've done been to. If I were in San Diego (or Orlando because they have this same festival with different dishes) during this time I'd probably check out this festival again.

This seems like much more interesting food options compared to Orlando for Christmas! And just in general compared to what the park normally has... I remember distinctly non-memorable QS food the last time we did Sea World SD lol. But I did get a rice krispie shaped like a whale tail. I recently heard from someone that they like the food festival at Busch Gardens Tampa better than F&W even. Imagine a trip based on the food festivals for SW/BG/Disney on both coasts... On Friday I decided to buy some discount ticket deal for BG/SW Orlando, so it looks like we will finally get there sometime in the next year.

 

[momma2ethan]

Thanks for following I felt that way when planning for Cali too!



Lol what I got was definitely not that exciting
​

I honestly can't even remember what place we ate at or what exactly I'd ordered but I do remember it being very tasty. I know it was a counter service type place without it's own seating and that it was some sort of "southwest bowl" or like a Denver bowl" type thing that was sort of a deconstructed Denver omelette thing with eggs, veggies, avocado and loads of salsa and sour cream. It was really filling and I could only eat 1/4 of it but DS stuffed myself overly full. I have terrible flying anxiety that causes severe nausea so I really can't allow myself to eat more than just enough to stave off hunger pangs when I fly. I just wish I could remember what exactly it was or even what restaurant it was at so I could try and recreate it at home.​

Einstein's Bagels would be perfect.

Sometimes you just need tried and true simplicity, especially leading into a food filled trip

I don't even like sunny side up eggs but this looks delicious. It looks like it was perfectly cooked!

Decadent Chocolate Mousse
Honey Crunch Chocolate Nibs

Now THIS is my type of yumminess

 

[Lesley Wake]

Sure Einstein's had many, many interesting different combinations and flavors but I went with a classic plain bagel and plain cream cheese. Not very exciting, but how would I establish a baseline for how good their bagels are unless I tried a classic first?

The line was kind of long and moved very slowly. In the course of that line a couple almost spilled a whole water bottle on me, and a lady tried to sneak her way up further into the line by going to the end and asking if everyone else was "really waiting in this line". Now sometimes I understand because people will group at the entrances to things and not be in lines and it's hard to tell, but other times when people are in a clearly marked line I wonder why you’d even bother asking that. Like do they think all the people will suddenly go "what?! I was waiting in a line, oops" and leave

I have never closely studied a bagel receipt before, but I did get a kick out of the fact that the cream cheese cost like double what the bagel cost. I'm not sure if that's the norm though since bagels are pretty cheap so maybe that's not a weird thing at all.

I love Einstein Bagels! My favorite is the basic sesame seed - I've tried some of the specialty, but always go back to the regular one!

They used to have bagel bites - like donut holes but bagels in cinnamon sugar. Those were sooo yummy, but they stopped having those a few years ago.

These tasted like they were part garlic knot, part pretzel, and the dip was like a creamy and cheesy sauce. These were really, really good, and probably my second favorite thing that I ate all day.

That looks pretty yummy!

 

[Cloe Colton]

I feel like either way you probably did okay by getting the sampler pass! Especially because I feel like even if you paid oop you probably would have come close to that amount or felt like you should skip certain dishes so that was probably a good call!

 

[Raeven]

We typically eat at the place next to Einstein, it's pretty decent food but also a big part of the draw is that we have a credit card that gives us $56 in credit towards food there, so we just have to leave a tip. If we're in a hurry Einstein is now my go to (though the line is slow for... bagels... Zack likes to go to the Villa Pizza across from it even though he is disappointed every time

We almost ate there but didn't have time for a sit down meal! I felt bad because it was one of the only gluten free places in the terminal, and there weren't really any other choices for Josh but we hadn't realized it was a sit down restaurant before we walked up.

Agreed. I'm also scared to order steak at not nice steak places, because I worry about the idea of spending that money and then it not being cooked to my liking. We attempted grilling steaks for Mother's Day Or Zack did lol. It did go okay, though it was a little undercooked for everyone else - I eat mine a tad rarer than his family anyways, but I also had a thinner steak and just in general it was more medium vs medium rare. I used to always go medium rare but, going back to that not being cooked to my liking thing... I've run into too many 'too medium rare for me' steaks at cheaper places so now I only go with that at somewhere like Shula's.

Oh yeah, I don't like to order steak unless I'm at a steakhouse. I've occasionally gotten an undercooked steak even at a steak place, but usually not. More often I get overcooked burgers with my preference (medium). I'm very weird about meat cuts and don't like there to be fat on them or bones in them so for steak I usually go with boneless filet at a place like Shula's.

This seems like much more interesting food options compared to Orlando for Christmas! And just in general compared to what the park normally has... I remember distinctly non-memorable QS food the last time we did Sea World SD lol. But I did get a rice krispie shaped like a whale tail. I recently heard from someone that they like the food festival at Busch Gardens Tampa better than F&W even. Imagine a trip based on the food festivals for SW/BG/Disney on both coasts... On Friday I decided to buy some discount ticket deal for BG/SW Orlando, so it looks like we will finally get there sometime in the next year.

Oh yeah it was much better! The regular QS we had in Orlando was pretty bad too. We've never been to Busch (because I wouldn't ride the roller coasters), but I didn't ride them at Seaworld either so one day we'll have to make it out there. They do a cool Halloween event too but it starts later than HHN and we're always at HHN I would love that! I wish they all had them around the same time of year.

I honestly can't even remember what place we ate at or what exactly I'd ordered but I do remember it being very tasty. I know it was a counter service type place without it's own seating and that it was some sort of "southwest bowl" or like a Denver bowl" type thing that was sort of a deconstructed Denver omelette thing with eggs, veggies, avocado and loads of salsa and sour cream. It was really filling and I could only eat 1/4 of it but DS stuffed myself overly full. I have terrible flying anxiety that causes severe nausea so I really can't allow myself to eat more than just enough to stave off hunger pangs when I fly. I just wish I could remember what exactly it was or even what restaurant it was at so I could try and recreate it at home.

I'm wondering if you're describing the same place @amalone1013 mentioned that was near Einstein's It was the only sit down place in our terminal. (The Southwest terminal).

I feel like either way you probably did okay by getting the sampler pass! Especially because I feel like even if you paid oop you probably would have come close to that amount or felt like you should skip certain dishes so that was probably a good call!

That's what I'm hoping! ​

 

[Raeven]

Ordering from the "Secret Menu"
Aka our first trip to In N Out

We had moved our dinner reservation from the first night onto our second night because of the flight delay, but we ended up moving it again because by the time dinner came around we were both really tired. In a way we both adapted to the time change quickly after the first day, and didn't adapt to it at all in the best possible way. (By which I mean it was much easier to get up early, and since I can stay up pretty late normally, with the time change I was going to bed at a reasonable time). But the first day the lack of sleep and long flights got to us.
So instead of going out to a restaurant, we just took a Lyft to In N Out

I felt kind of silly taking a Lyft just to go to a fast food restaurant that was a few miles away, but honestly I don't think we're the only ones to have done that. The place was PACKED even at 9pm and the drive thru was wrapped around the area. Even our driver raved about their food all the way there. In N Out hadn't fit perfectly into our plans before, but it's something everyone from the west coast talks about that we don't have so I'm glad we fit it into our plans.



Josh was surprised that the food was so cheap so I think we got a little more than we needed so we could try more things.

I got:

2 cheeseburgers, regular fries

Josh got:

Our 4x4 or Quad Quad
Four 100% American beef patties, hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, spread, four slices of American cheese, with or without onions, stacked high on a
freshly baked bun

& Animal Style fries
which had grilled onions, cheese, and their sauce on them (aka Thousand Island dressing):



And we were lucky and snagged a table as some people were leaving!



2 of our items we're off the "secret menu" (Josh's burger, and the Animal Style fries). Although Josh says he doesn't really understand "secret menus", and thinks their silly because everything should just be on a menu that everyone can see.

For Josh's order they were a bit dumbfounded when he asked for no bun and no lettuce wrap. So normally for GF burgers they put them in a lettuce wrap if they don't have GF buns. Josh usually just asks for it without that because he doesn't like lettuce on his burgers and he knows he won't eat it. Usually it's no problem, but I don't know if they've ever run into that before because they seemed very confused on what to enter it as and how to put that together and kept asking him if he was sure. It was getting to the point where he was telling them they could give him the lettuce if it was easier but then they figured it out.

Josh thought his burger was much fresher than basic fast food burgers and said he would eat there again. But that it was a little bit mushy.
Because the prices were so low (I would say around $3 for a burger) I pictured them being on the small side so I had ordered 2. But they seemed regular sized so I probably could've done with just one. For me they were fine, but not so different than any other fast food burger I've ever had. Honestly, I'd put them on par with a Wendy's burger (which aren't terrible, but aren't something I really enjoy eating).
As for the fries neither of us were big fans. The plain ones were definitely undercooked and under-seasoned. I felt like they were missing something flavor-wise. The Animal Style was the same thing just slathered in toppings (mainly thousand island dressing) which seemed like a bit much. I have heard people say the Animal Style is better on the burgers, but it seems to be the same toppings so I don't really see the difference.



To compare it to what we have locally (Five Guys, Smashburger, and I don't think we have one locally but I've been to Shake Shack a few times on other trips). They all have their flaws and I don't really love any of them, (I'm not really big on fast food). In comparison Five Guys has higher prices, but the burgers are bigger and more customizable. Their fries on the other hand are my favorite fast food fries, and I would go out of my way to go there just to get just those so I think that's what sets it ahead of the others. For the others I've had different experiences at different Shake Shack's (good in Orlando, okay in Chicago), but I feel like for them their custard and shakes set them apart. Smashburger is one we haven't gone to after trying it out when it opened because we weren't crazy about it (and it's not really conveniently located) but they have the best GF options of all the others and a lot of options to make them customizable. (One of our Lyft drivers also mentioned we were lucky to have White Castle where we're from but I've never had any desire to eat there).



It was my opinion after eating at In N Out, that if I lived in California (or somewhere else that had an In N Out) I'd go there in a pinch if I was looking for a fast food option, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it; and I probably wouldn't bother to go again on a vacation. In N Out's extreme popularity (every single one we passed was always packed and it always tops fast food lists) does leave me a little confused, but I'm glad I tried it because I'd been curious and wanted to try it for a long time.

​

 

[Cloe Colton]

Thats good to know about In N Out! I feel like its one of those things thats only popular because its popular lol I plan on trying it for lunch when we're in LA just to try it but like you I always feel like I'm missing the secret when it comes to places like In N Out or Chik Fil A that gets SO much attention

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Oh that's funny. As a native Californian who now lives in the midwest I miss In n' Out SOOOOOO much! Maybe it's just a nostalgia thing? I agree on their fries, but nothing beats a Double Double!

 

[Raeven]

Thats good to know about In N Out! I feel like its one of those things thats only popular because its popular lol I plan on trying it for lunch when we're in LA just to try it but like you I always feel like I'm missing the secret when it comes to places like In N Out or Chik Fil A that gets SO much attention

I feel like that might be it! We recently got a Chik Fil A, and I’ve heard people rave about it but I’m not really interested in trying anything from there. Chipotle was a around for a bit before we got one, and I didn’t really like anything when I tried there either.

Oh that's funny. As a native Californian who now lives in the midwest I miss In n' Out SOOOOOO much! Maybe it's just a nostalgia thing? I agree on their fries, but nothing beats a Double Double!

I wonder if some of it is that. I was also wondering if they have the other chains in California. Like do they have a Five Guys? (I was pretty sure at this point Five Guys was country-wide but I know some of those chains are east coast specific).

I have a coworker from Colorado who swears we just ordered wrong and if only we got the Animal Style on the burger we would’ve fallen in love. But I don’t really think any of the burgers would’ve tasted any different to me ​

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Joining in!

I always thought we were missing something fantastic but not having In N Out here but it sounds like we aren't lol. I had always thought Chick Fil A was so good because I loved their fries and sauce but now they built one like 5 minutes from me and I've decided it's nothing special and I feel like that's what happens to people with In N Out too.

 

[xlsm]

Oh, and in the interest of full disclosure I'm pretty sure I ate a mini bag of potato chips too.

I mean, you'd better not leave anything out, missy!! I need to know all the foods!!

So I decided Einstein's Bagels would be perfect

My mom still says her Einstein's bagel from the airport was one of her favorite things from our trip, LOL!!! Of all the food we had

The line was kind of long and moved very slowly

The one by our house is the same way, and it doesn't even have the excuse of being in a busy airport

Bacon Flavors

Pretzel Flavors

Latin American Flavors

Nuevo Baja booth

One of these things is not like the others, LOL

Island Fusion Flavors

Polynesian Flavors

Ah, there we go!! Back to the Flavors. I love these booth names

The pretzels looked good, and so did the loco moco. I'm sorry the Latin Flavors booths weren't as good as you'd hoped.

This was my first time having an Impossible patty, and I was curious to try it. Honestly I thought it tasted just like a hamburger.

I've been so curious about this, so I'm glad you tried one.

the aged tasted like goat cheese to me (which I don't like)

goat cheese is one food I will always veto. I am not picky, but yuck, I just can't get past the smell or taste

As for the fries neither of us were big fans. The plain ones were definitely undercooked and under-seasoned. I felt like they were missing something flavor-wise. The Animal Style was the same thing just slathered in toppings (mainly thousand island dressing) which seemed like a bit much. I have heard people say the Animal Style is better on the burgers, but it seems to be the same toppings so I don't really see the difference.

None of us understood the love for In n Out. We tried it in both southern and northern california, and just were unimpressed. Like you said, the burgers were fine, but the fries were awful. And animal style was so salty, I couldn't eat much of it at all.

Smashburger is one we haven't gone to after trying it out when it opened because we weren't crazy about it

Same! We have one here that we tried when it was new, and it was just another boring burger place. We have some great local places so it's not even on our radar anymore.


I'm excited to read about the rest of your food adventures. We didn't love much of our Disneyland food, so I hope you guys had good luck.

 

[Lesley Wake]

My family loves In N Out, but I'm not a big fan! Whenever they go there, we stop at Panda Express (it's nearby) to get my dinner!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I loved In and Out, when my parents lived in Tucson, I always made a point to hit it!! I wish we had them around here! In my opinion way better than the Wendy’s we have around here, ours are not very good!

I agree about 5 guys French fries so delicious and my favorite!!

 

[lauraleh]

We have In-and-Out here in DFW and it's fine. It's cheap, quick and fresh. I do prefer Shake Shack and places like D-Lux Burger a lot more. The price point is a lot different though and for me, worth it.