I went to Disneyland over Veteran's Day weekend and it just happened to be the first weekend of the holiday season so the parks were all decorated for Christmas. It was also the first weekend of the Festival of Holidays at California Adventure. At the festival there are 13 different booths that serve delicious food and drinks. I was there for a couple of days and my sister in law joined me for one of them so I was able to eat or at least taste a lot of the items available.
If you are going to be there for a couple of days and want to eat at a bunch of the booths then the most cost effective way to do so (Disclaimer Disneyland is not cost effective) is to buy a Sip and Savor Pass. It is $49 if you have an annual pass and $54 if you do not and contains 8 little tear off tickets that you can use for anything non-alcoholic at the booths. Basically it will save you more money if you use it on the more expensive things at the booths.
In no particular order here is what I ate/drank/tasted and my thoughts on each.
At the Merry Mashups booth I was very excited to try the Turkey and Stuffing Tamale. It just sounded so unique and I love tamales so I had high hopes for it. It totally lived up to my expectations and was unique and delicious. The gravy was good and the cranberry on top cut through the richness of everything.
At this booth there was also a Holiday Punch made of lime sherbet and Sprite that my sister in law got. It was little sweet for my taste and the ratio between liquid and sherbet was off. We had a bottle of sparkling water with us and we ended up adding some of it to the punch and it actually improved it. There is an alcoholic version of the punch that used sparkling wine and champaign instead of Sprite.
At the Blissfully Braised booth I got the Cornbread Cakes and they were amazing. Cornbread cakes, gravy and bacon. Yum, just yum! I actually had them the first day I was there and went back the day my sister in law was there and got them again to share with her. The Braised Pork Belly Adobo at this booth is a repeat dish from previous years and while it is not my favorite it is very popular with a lot of people. My sister in law got it and said it was as good this year as it had been in past years.
Also at the Blissfully Braised booth was a Blood Orange Ginger Mule. I am a big fan of Moscow Mules so I figured I would like this one and I did. The blood orange juice and the ginger beer were a good compliment to each other and the little rosemary sprig added a nice little flavor to it.
The Winter Sliderland booth had a Holiday Stuffing Mac & Cheese that was delicious but really it is pretty hard to mess up mac & cheese. The stuffing topping on the mac & cheese was really good and flavorful. Disney tends to have at least one type of mac & cheese at each of its festivals and while this one is very good my favorite still goes to the Onion Mac & Cheese from the Food and Wine Festival in 2017.
Also at the Winter Sliderland booth was a drink that was a returning favorite from last year. The Frosty Froze feels a little small for the price but is very delicious and a nice cool treat in the middle of the day when Anaheim still has a habit of being quite warm even in November.
The returning dish I was looking forward to the most this year was at Bites and Brews. The Chorizo Queso Fundido from last year was so amazing that I was so excited it was back again this year. I love cheese and this cheesy goodness didn't disappoint at all. I don't know how they do it but there is always the exact amount of chips needed to get every last drop of the cheese.
At the Holiday Duets booth I had the Shrimp and Grits and it was quite good. It had a little bit of a kick to it from the sausage that was in the sauce so if you don't like spice you might want to skip this one.
Also at this booth was the Warm Chocolate Peppermint Float which was a nice warm sweet treat at night when the temperatures got quite cool. While I really enjoyed this it wasn't quite as good as the Brownie Hot Chocolate (not the actual name) Float thing they had last year.
On my last day in the parks at the end of the day I had one little tab from my Sip and Savor Pass left so I went to Holiday Duets and got the Holiday Mickey and Minnie Cookies to take with me to the airport. Most of the dishes at the Festival of Holidays are not really things you can take with you so I was glad they had these cookies.
While we are on the subject of yummy deserts the Visions of Sugarplums booth had the best desert I tasted. My sister in law got the Warm Sticky Toffee Pudding and it was just oozy gooey deliciousness. It looked so good that we dug in before we stopped to take a picture of it.
At the Spicy Celebrations booth I was very excited to try the Jalapeño Latkes because I love spicy things. While they didn't taste like a traditional latke they were fantastic. The definitely pack a punch but I think most of the spice was in the chipotle sauce even though there were technically jalapeños in the latkes so if you don't like spicy things you might ask for it without the sauce and be okay.
One cool evening I stopped at the Winter Wonders booth to try the Pumpkin Soup with maple cashew cream. The whole booth is vegan foods hence the cashew cream instead of a traditional cream. I really enjoyed this soup and the maple cashew cream was the best part. I also had the Chana Masala at this booth. It was fine but not something I would go out of my way to order again.
At the Favorite Things booth they had Ruben Potato Tots again this year. They were a little bit different than last year but just as good. I think the biggest difference was last year the tots were smashed and this year they were not. I also don't remember the rye crumbs on the top from last year but that could just be my memory.
My sister in law got the Holiday Ham Shanks at the Favorite Things booth and said it was really good. I had a bite and I agree it was good. It is actually a pretty good sized portion with 2 shanks in each serving. I don't like things on bones but the little bite I had was pretty yummy.
I got the Cranberry Sangria during the middle of the day while it was quite warm out and it was very refreshing. It was a summer drink with a nice winter twist.
While it wasn't bad I was kind of disappointed in the Beef Pot Roast on a Potato Roll at Grandma's Recipes. It came with a horseradish cream on top and even when I stuck my finger directly in the cream I didn't get any horseradish taste. I really like horseradish so I was sad about this. The rest of the sandwich was fine but nothing special.
The final booth I ate foods at was A Twist on Tradition where I had the Chicken-less Mole and my sister in law had the Pozole Rojo Beef. She got the better end of this deal. The Chicken-less Mole was kind of dry and not very flavorful while the Pozole Rojo Beef was moist and delicious.
There were a few other foods (and drinks) I wanted to try but I did try most of the things that sounded appealing to me. The Festival of Holidays has lots of options but there are also a whole assortment of other holiday foods at the Disneyland Resort to try too. Rather than make this post longer than it already is I will make a whole separate post for those other foods and drinks that I tried.
Happy Eating!
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