Disneyland Resort’s Food & Wine Festival Features Over 100 Delectable Delights

by Laurie Baratti
Last updated: 6:10 PM ET, Sun March 3, 2024

It’s that time of year again, when the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival—a celebration of all things edible and drinkable—returns to the Disneyland Resort. The special event, which kicked off on March 1 and runs through April 22, 2024, introduces a plethora of limited-time food and beverage items, and entertainment offerings scattered throughout the park.

This year’s festival experience sees more than 100 flavor-packed drinks and dishes appearing across Disney California Adventure park, inspired by the state’s diverse cultures and cuisines. An assortment of these inventive concoctions are on offer at 10 different dedicated festival marketplace stalls, select snack carts and participating permanent dining locations. Even select locations in the Downtown Disney District are featuring festival-inspired menu items this year.

Tapas-style food items, each conceived and expertly executed by Disneyland Resort’s talented culinary team, celebrate the highlights of California’s diverse culinary landscape with a distinctly Disney twist. A varied menu of alcoholic beverages also spotlights the Golden State’s honored wine-making heritage and beer-brewing scene. The vast assortment of drinks available to guests 21 and older features a carefully curated list of vintages and draughts from California-based craft breweries and wineries.

Guests enjoying the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival.

The Sip and Savor Pass

While alcoholic selections must be purchased individually or as part of pre-booked tasting sessions, guests can use a ‘Sip and Savor Pass’ to sample an assortment of festival menu items throughout their day at the park, or over the course of multiple visits. Each passport contains a set number of coupons, which can be individually redeemed for select food and non-alcoholic drink offerings as part of the festival fun. They can be found for purchase at various locations throughout Disney California Adventure park.

This year, in addition to the returning eight-coupon option, guests have a new option to purchase a four-coupon Sip and Savor Pass. If you’re visiting for just one day, this could be a good choice for a single holder, since it’s easy to fill up after sampling a few of the sumptuous food offerings. The good news is that Sip and Savor Pass coupons can be shared among friends and family, so you might buy the eight-coupon variety and split the coupons up between group members.

Notably, this year also sees the launch of a new sort of Sip and Savor Pass. Whereas, in the past, the commemorative credential had tear-able coupon tabs, it now features a scannable barcode and unique pin number, which guests present to Cast Members in lieu of monetary exchange at the register. The collectible passport document itself is issued on the end of a special lanyard, which makes it easy to keep handy for when you spot something tasty you simply must order. It also comes with a booklet detailing all festival locations and the menu items that can be found at each, so you can plan out where you want to spend your entitlements.

Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival merchandise.

A Feast of Flavors

In a testament to the ingenuity of Disneyland Resort’s culinary and mixology teams, more than 80 of the over 100 dishes and drinks on offer across this year’s Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival are brand-new. And these bites and sips aren’t what you typically think of as theme park fare—they’re of a quality that will impress even the most discerning foodie. For the full menu of offerings edible and imbibe-able offerings, check out the Disney Eats: Foodie Guide on Disneyland Resort’s official blog.

A new marketplace has been added this year: Earth Eats, where you’ll find flavorsome plant-forward dishes featuring IMPOSSIBLE products, which honestly can’t be discerned from their meat-based counterparts. Try the IMPOSSIBLE Chicken Parm Bites, smothered in zesty tomato and creamy cheese sauces and topped with grated parmesan or IMPOSSIBLE Beef Stroganoff, consisting of beef substitute tossed with egg noodles in a mushroom cream sauce. Next door, at LA Style, you’ll find another incredible plant-based option: the new Baja-style Fish Taco, with all the flavor you’d expect from a fresh fish taco covered in cabbage slaw, cilantro-lime crema and pico de gallo.

IMPOSSIBLE Chicken Parm Bites at the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival.

Other new must-taste fresh additions to this year’s menu include Shrimp Papas Locas: cheddar-bacon potatoes with jalapeno-cheese sauce and chipotle shrimp; the Cheeseburger Bao: ground beef with thousand island dressing, grilled onions, pickles and tomato relish; Carnitas-style Pork Belly with esquites corn mac salad featuring Tajín Habanero; Carbonara Garlic Mac and Cheese featuring Nueske’s peppered bacon; and the Loaded Baked Potato from Paradise Garden Grill: plant-based seasoned steak tips and BBQ baked beans topped with cheese sauce, tangy slaw and green onions.

When it comes to dessert, there’s also a wide selection of sweet treats to choose from, including the decadent S’mores Caramel Tart: a graham cracker outer shell filled with smooth caramel and chocolate ganache, topped with a toasted marshmallow; the Frozen Old-Fashioned: non-alcoholic bourbon-flavored ice cream, bitters crema, orange zest glaze and cherry spheres; Raspberry Almond Cake: an almond sponge cake with fresh raspberries topped with a raspberry mousse; and returning favorite, the generously-sized Chocolate Mickey-shaped Macaron, filled with caramel ganache and made with SNICKERS bar pieces.

“Cookin’ with the Jammin’ Chefs” at Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival.

Special Festival Entertainment

In addition to all the tasty experiences you can have at the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival, family-friendly entertainment also abounds, from live bands to complimentary crafting sessions. “Cookin’ with the Jammin’ Chefs” returns this year with performances throughout the day, featuring a talented drumming band who play on an assortment of kitchen paraphernalia and a head “chef”, along with characters like Chip and Dale, Daisy Duck and Clarabelle Cow dancing their little shoes off. Other daily musical performances across the park feature a rotating roster of 14 live bands, who can mainly be heard at the Palisades Stage and Paradise Gardens Bandstand.

The park’s youngest guests will also find some new entertainment crafted just for them. A new, interactive kids’ offering is making its debut over in Hollywood Land, called ‘Confection Purrfection with the SuperKitties’. Inspired by Disney Junior’s hit animated series “SuperKitties”, this show features special on-screen appearances by the SuperKitties cast themselves. Built on the premise that Pickles’ birthday cake has been stolen, the show invites junior chefs ages three through 11 to decorate a set of cupcakes and discover how food can save the day.

"Confection Purrfection with the SuperKitties" at Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival.

A Culinary Education

Besides being fun and flavorful, the Food & Wine Festival can also be educational, if you’re a more hard-core gourmand, or wine and beer connoisseur. On weekends, park guests can convene at the Hollywood Backlot Stage to learn from local, celebrity and Disney chefs during engaging cooking demonstrations. Scheduled presenters include Michelin-starred chef Carlos Gaytán; Food Network’s Jet Tila; Claudia Sandoval, winner of Master Chef Season 6; and Paul Cao of Burnt Crumbs in Irvine, California.

For an additional fee, you can also participate in special, limited-time bookable culinary experiences at the resort, where you’ll hear from industry experts about California’s wealth of cuisine and libations. Over at the Disneyland Hotels, Trader Sam’s Tiki Mixology Seminar’ will teach you to make one of its tropical concoctions and send you home with a souvenir mug; and Hearthstone Lounge will host ‘A Walk on the Silverado Trail’, where guests will sample delectable small bites and beverages, including some of California’s finest vintages.

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