Tasty Adventures at the 2019 Disneyland Food and Wine Festival

I woke up at 7am on Saturday. At 7am…on Saturday. For those of you who don’t know me, I should tell you that me being up that early is a big deal. If my house were on fire, I MIGHT consider getting up that early to save myself. I guess it would depend on what mood I was in.

This Saturday I was in fantastic mood because my husband and I were taking a much-needed trip to Disneyland.

I LOVE DISNEYLAND!

Though we are passholders, and we can go anytime we want, making a trip over there can be hard for us sometimes. So, when we do get to go together it is pretty special.

This was not the only reason that I was excited. We were going to the parks during the 2019 Food and Wine Festival at California Adventure.

The Disneyland Food and Wine Festival

The Disneyland Food and Wine Festival happens in the spring months at Disney’s California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California. Several celebrity chefs make appearances and teach cooking demonstrations, there is wine and beer tasting, and of course food, lots of food. The event this year began March 1^st, 2019 and will run until April 23^rd, 2019. Though there are some events at the festival that require a separate ticket apart from admission, there are many other options for those visiting the part that day.

Sip and Savor Pass

This year my husband and I decided to try out one of these options called the Sip and Savor Pass. Without the AP discount, the pass is $54, but with the discount, it can drop to $49. The pass comes with 8 coupons that can be used to try a dish at any of the Food and Wine Festival Kiosks. When considering many of the items bought on their own averaged $7.50, I would say the pass was well worth it if you wanted to try different foods.

So many choices!

Did I mention this was a food festival? There were so many food kiosks with so many delicious sounding options it was difficult to choose which ones we wanted to try. Ultimately we chose the following foods:

Ghost Pepper Mac & Cheese with Chili Cheese Corn Chip Dust from Peppers Cal-Ente

Wow…this was HOT. It wasn’t so hot that I couldn’t eat it, but the heat let you know it was there. If it weren’t for how greasy this mac & cheese was, I would have said it was a slam dunk. I’m not trying to give you a heart attack here by suggesting you eat this, eat at your own risk. In spite of this, it was super creamy, exactly what I would want out of a good mac and cheese. If I didn’t think my stomach would explode, I would have continued to eat it because that Chili Cheese Corn Chip Dust on top was a welcome addition to this mac and cheese.

Pepperoni Pizza Egg Rolls with Marinara and Pesto Sauce from California Craft Brews

I don’t want to be too hard on these dishes, especially because everyone’s palate is different, but I must warn you that this is salty, and there is a surprising kick that hits you when you aren’t looking. It isn’t terribly hot like the Ghost Pepper Mac and Cheese, but it is still there. I wish I could say I liked this, but it was just too salty, even with the pesto and marinara sauce. If you love salty foods with a kick, then this is your go too. It is a clever idea though, maybe next time they can tone down the salt a bit.

Black Forest Parfait from Paradise Garden Grill

This parfait was my absolute favorite, but its desert, so why wouldn’t I like it? This dessert is beautiful! It is layered with chocolate cream, whipped cream, chocolate cake and a cherry glaze. I think the layers were done beautifully, there was not too much of one-layer overpowering another. I especially loved the chocolate shavings plated on top with the single cherry. This was a delicious desert that was appropriately sweet. I could have had a few of these without feeling sick to my stomach from too much sugar. Now, I am not the biggest fan of chocolate, and considering much of this dessert is chocolate I was a bit concerned that it would be too chocolaty (you may be asking me if that is even possible…yes, yes it is), but because of the whipped cream and cherry glaze that intense chocolate flavor was not overwhelming. I loved this dessert!

Pretzel with Beer Cheese Dip

Um…YUM. Really, what can I say about this? It is a pretzel with BEER CHEESE dip. Those are my favorite food words ha-ha. The pretzel was huge, and I didn’t think it was overly salted, not like the pretzel places in the mall that overloads the pretzels with butter and salt. I also really enjoyed the beer cheese dip. I should mention that my husband did not. There was some sort of pepper in the sauce, jalapeno or habanero, I could not honestly tell you, all I know is that he did not like it. I would say the sauce was a bit on the salty side as well, but I think it paired nicely with the pretzel.

This pretzel isn’t listed on the Sip & Savor Pass, but you can still use the pass coupon at the Paradise Garden Grill for this pretzel.

Harris Ranch Grilled Beef Tenderloin Slider with Chimichurri Sauce from Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo

There are MANY people who enjoy this slider, but not this girl. No way no how…I couldn’t eat it. I know I said I didn’t want to be too harsh on these food items, but no. This slider doesn’t even deserve a kind word. Sorry, not sorry. My husband couldn’t even eat it. It almost seemed like a punishment from the universe for getting up at 7 am. I’m sure that couldn’t possibly be the case…but just to be sure, I promise never to eat this again.

Salt and Vinegar Parmesan Chicken Wings from Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo

Okay, so I was slightly disappointed in these because I was expecting a strong salt and vinegar flavor on these wings. I LOVE salt and vinegar chips, the Kettle cooked ones? Yes, love love love them. I also put grated parmesan on them when I eat them. It is a fabulous combination. So yes, I was really stoked to see these wings at the festival. It may just be that I am so spoiled with my salt and vinegar chips that I could not pick up on the subtle flavors of these wings. Or it could be that I completely burnt off all my taste buds from that Ghost Pepper Mac and Cheese. I hope not, I need those. The wings themselves though, were perfectly crisp, just a little dry, but still good. My husband and I both liked them. Oh, and they were covered in grated parmesan, yummy.

Chocolate Crunch Cake from Garlic Kissed

I loved the look of this more than I liked the cake. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but you can see it is in the shape of mickey mouse. I have wanted one of these mickey shaped cakes for SO LONG! I mean honestly, I am sure I could make this shape at home.

I should and share it with you guys, let me know what flavors you would like to try!

How yummy does this look though? It was a nice little treat. It was like a mousse cake, with a crunch on the bottom and some type of cream in the center. Well done Disney, well done.

Chocolate-Peanut-Caramel-Parfait with Salt Sprinkle Topping from Golden Dreams

This was another highly rated item at the festival. Sadly, I myself could not eat it. I am allergic to peanuts, so I had Josh try it out and let me know how it was. He loved it, no surprise there. I mean, delicious is in the title, right? Chocolate? Yum. Peanuts? Sure, I guess. Caramel? YES PLEASE! How could you possibly mess this up? Unless you somehow burnt the chocolate or the caramel, is that even possible? (actually, it is but whatever)

Food and Wine Festival, is it worth it?

Though there were a few foods from the festival that I would certainly not order again, it was a fun experience that I would recommend to any foodie, especially one who loves Disneyland. Even though there were foods I didn’t like, that does not mean that you won’t like them. This festival happens every year, and then you have the Festival of the Holidays which is the same premise but holiday-themed themed foods, which is awesome. If you have a chance to go to the Spring Food and Wine Festival or the Festival of the Holidays, I say give it all a go if you can, bring your friends with you, and have a magical time!