This ranks our 10 favourite savory snacks and decadent desserts on the 2024 Disney California Journey Meals & Wine Pageant, which is Disneyland Resort’s spring culinary occasion. We additionally share dishes to keep away from in our ‘worst of’ checklist from the DCA foodie fest.
Reasonably than doing particular person market sales space critiques, we needed to focus on the great, dangerous & ugly of the 2024 Disney California Journey Meals & Wine Pageant. This checklist shares some must-try snacks for these of you visiting within the close to future who desire a concise useful resource of what to eat at this yr’s flagship Meals & Wine Pageant at Disneyland Resort.
We’ve already tasted our approach across the 2024 DCA Meals & Wine Pageant, making an attempt all 17 of the brand new and returning dishes and desserts. All advised, there are 80 new objects, however the overwhelming majority are alcohol. The occasion runs for the subsequent couple of months, by April 22, 2024. Lots of favorites from final yr have returned, and are pretty much as good as ever.
The Sip & Savor Go is again for the 2024 Disney California Journey Meals & Wine Pageant, providing a commemorative credential, lanyard and tabs redeemable for meals and nonalcoholic drinks on the market cubicles. The brand new-for-2024 twist is which you can both buy a 4-tab or 8-tab Sip & Savor Go.
We suggest shopping for the Sip & Savor Go. It’s worth as long as you purchase solely the costliest (savory) objects at every meals sales space. Even on the barely larger per-tab value level for the 4-tab model, your per merchandise breakeven price is $7.75 (it’s $7.62 for the 8-tab model).
With a number of savory objects on our ‘advisable’ checklist beneath clocking in at $8 to $9 every, the move provides good bang for buck if you happen to’re planning on sampling numerous objects on the occasion. Ideally, you’d use the Sip & Savor Go for savory objects and pay for desserts out of pocket–so get the 4-tab or 8-tab model with that plan in thoughts.
Our different advice can be ordering as a lot as doable at one sales space. Lots of people don’t notice that is doable, however you’ll be able to order from any of the menus at any of the cubicles, that means that you simply simply save your receipt (DO NOT LOSE IT!) and go to the return line reasonably than ready in line to order another time. We attempt to order from ~3 cubicles at a time, which is in regards to the candy spot. (We’ve accomplished extra earlier than, however regretted it. Seems our eyes have been larger than our stomachs.)
Which brings us to a different level–the dishes are very filling regardless of being snack-sized, which is a results of their nearly across-the-board heartiness. That has change into the character of the beast with this occasion. We’d’ve described the DCA Meals & Wine Pageant delicacies as “too heavy” two years in the past, and it skews even additional in that course for 2024. There are extra sorts of mac & cheese than there are vegetable-centric dishes.
This is sensible to an extent–California has numerous nice road meals that’s indulgent or decadent. It’s additionally a state of numerous and ingenious flavors, coastal delicacies, and wholesome residing. So it’s barely disappointing that the Disney California Journey Meals & Wine Pageant nearly singularly focuses on “elevated consolation meals.”
That is shocking on condition that EPCOT’s festivals have accomplished a greater job at providing a spread of attention-grabbing and impressive delicacies, with each lighter and heavier dishes. With that stated, the general high quality of the culinary lineup on the DCA Meals & Wine Pageant continues to be very excessive, and with fewer “misses” than its Epcot counterpart. Nonetheless, the menus play issues protected much more than we anticipated.
Anyway, let’s begin with the best-of the Disney California Journey Meals & Wine Pageant checklist…
Shrimp Papas Locas (Peppers Cali-Ente) – This dish consists of cheddar-bacon potatoes with jalapeño cheese sauce and chipotle shrimp. That is without delay comforting and hearty, whereas even have a wealthy and nuanced taste profile.
It does deliver a bit of warmth, however nothing that ought to scare anybody away. The cheddar-bacon potatoes are out of this world, and the shrimp bathed in cheese sauce–and paired with the potatoes–are additionally wonderful. That is proper up there for me as probably the greatest savory dishes of the DCA Meals & Wine Pageant–in all probability my #2 choose.
Chile Relleno Empanada (Peppers Cali-Ente) – It’s a fairly comparable story with the empanada on the identical sales space, which is served with Arbol pepper salsa and Oaxaca and Cotija cheeses.
It’s Southern California, so good empanadas are plentiful in the true world outdoors Disneyland. But this nonetheless shines. The pastry is perfectly-prepared, flaky on the skin and doughy inside. One other winner at Peppers Cali-Ente, albeit not so good as the Shrimp Papas Locas. Each are nice makes use of of Sip & Savor credit, too.
Cheeseburger Bao (California Craft Brews) – Served with Thousand Island dressing, grilled onions, pickle, and tomato relish. The Disneyland culinary group stated they have been making an attempt for a Huge Mac meets In-N-Out Burger.
I used to be skeptical, however they nailed it. I attempted a few these for, uh, high quality management. Each have been improbable (one was a bit too doughy), with the bao itself being an ideal burger and the dressing plus grilled onions doing an awesome job of mimicking In-N-Out’s Animal Model. It’s nonetheless not so good as the true deal, however I can simply see this turning into a fan-favorite, very like the cheeseburger egg roll at Magic Kingdom in Florida. Extremely advisable–one other prime 3 dish for me on the 2024 DCA Meals & Wine Pageant.
S’mores Caramel Tart (California Craft Brews) – This dessert consists of a graham cracker tart shell full of caramel and chocolate ganache topped with a toasted marshmallow.
I used to be additionally skeptical of this, as Disney is keen on tarts with low-quality crust and really unusual components. This far exceeded expectations. The key to success right here is the caramel filling and wealthy chocolate ganache. I wouldn’t say it’s top-tier quality-wise, nevertheless it’s ok as an indulgence. Oh, and that is wealthy. You’ll in all probability need to share it.
Carbonara-Garlic Mac & Cheese (D-Lish) – This elevated mac & cheese has been round for a number of years, bouncing from Garlic Kisses to D-Lish. Along with a pleasant combination of cheeses, the bacon chunks made this a hearty and scrumptious dish.
Of the mac & cheeses dishes served at DCA festivals (and there are numerous them!), that is far and away my favourite and the one one which I really love. It’s a responsible pleasure dish that’s additionally top quality and scrumptious, rounding out my prime 5 on the competition. Give me this in a full sized bread bowl over at Aunt Cass Cafe in San Fransokyo Sq.!
Olive Oil Cake (D-Lish) – This cake is glazed with lemon curd, topped with vanilla bean Chantilly, and completed with recent candied lemons, strawberry crunch, and lemon-lime gelée.
Don’t let the identify idiot you–it is a lemon-flavored cake, not an olive oil-flavored cake. I’m not notably keen on lemon desserts, so I solely discovered this to be okay. Sarah, who loves lemon, additionally beloved this. We each thought that it was one of many lighter and fewer wealthy desserts on the DCA Meals & Wine Pageant. Undoubtedly price giving a strive!
Snickers Caramel-Peanut Milk Chocolate Mickey Macaron (Nuts About Cheese) – It is a chocolate Mickey Mouse-shaped macaron full of caramel ganache and Snickers items. Does that sound good? It ought to, as a result of it’s improbable!
This wasn’t essentially destined for greatness, nevertheless it has change into a fan-favorite since launching a number of years again. Whereas Disneyland can do macarons rather well, simply as usually they’re overly synthetic or in any other case miss the mark. Not so right here, that is the most effective model of precisely what you’d count on if you happen to’re imagining this dessert. This Mickey Macaron is the iconic meals of the DCA Meals & Wine Pageant due to its look. Fortunately, it’s additionally scrumptious. Extremely advisable–one other prime 5 entry.
Carnitas-style Pork Stomach (LA Model Sales space) – This pork stomach with esquites corn mac salad has Asian influences, and is one thing you may discover in Koreatown. The portion right here is sizable, with the meat being wealthy and deeply flavorful–but in addition a bit on the fatty facet (even for pork stomach).
I favored this much more than Sarah did–it’d be one in all my prime total picks. If you happen to’re a more healthy eater or have already had a number of heavy dishes, you may look elsewhere. One other nice use of the Sip & Savor Go tabs, although.
Grilled High Sirloin (Garlic Kisses Sales space) – We each love this–it’s been our #1 savory advice of your entire DCA Meals & Wine Pageant for the previous few years, a pattern that continues for 2024. The grilled prime sirloin is an absolute crowd-pleaser, providing an approachable dish for “meat & potatoes” individuals in addition to one thing extra bold for foodies.
The roasted garlic-gruyère smashed potatoes with black garlic chimichurri are creamy and addictively scrumptious; the perfectly-prepared meat topped with refreshing chimichurri and fermented black garlic are likewise improbable. Extremely, extremely advisable.
BBQ Beef Brisket Slider (Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo) – This slider is topped with smoked white cheddar and dill pickles on salt and pepper brioche.
This sales space has accomplished variations of the slider prior to now and, like these, this beef brisket model was satisfying. We have been skeptical that the briskey can be low high quality, masked by cheese and toppings, however that is actually tasty. The meat is scrumptious by itself, and the opposite components solely improve–not masks–it. And but once more one other nice Sip & Savor merchandise.
Additionally on the Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo sales space is the Cheese Pizza-flavored Wings, which make neither our ‘better of’ nor ‘worst of’ lists. These are kind of precisely what you’d count on–rooster wings that vaguely style like pizza. I really like rooster wings and these are a tremendous model, however I’m “over” the pattern of making an attempt to make them style like another meals. To every their very own, I suppose.
Loaded Carnitas Pretzel Bites (ODVs) – These are discovered at outside merchandising carts all through the park; we ordered ours over by Paradise Gardens. The pretzel bites are piled excessive with carnitas, and accompanied by cheese sauce, salsa verde, cilantro, and onion.
That is the one non-marketplace dish we’ve tried to date on the 2024 Disney California Journey Meals & Wine Pageant. I beloved these as a easy and enjoyable meals. Sarah was much less eager on them. We’re additionally wanting ahead to making an attempt the Pastrami Fries at Smokejumpers Grill, Charcuterie Flatbread at Sonoma Terrace, Rooster Lollipop at Studio Catering Co., and whole menu at Paradise Backyard Grill. We’ll report again on the “outcomes” as soon as we’ve sampled these picks.
To recap, the 5 must-order dishes on the 2024 DCA Meals & Wine Pageant are as follows:
- Grilled High Sirloin (Garlic Kisses)
- Shrimp Papas Locas (Peppers Cali-Ente)
- Cheeseburger Bao (California Craft Brews)
- Snickers Mickey Macaron (Nuts About Cheese)
- Carbonara-Garlic Mac & Cheese (D-Lish)
From our perspective, the highest 5 is a reduce above every part else, and any of those might realistically be #1 relying upon what we’re craving. These are the issues you need to make a degree of making an attempt above every part else. (Sarah would add the Olive Oil Cake to the checklist.)
Listed below are the dishes we’d suggest you don’t devour on the 2024 Disney California Journey Meals & Wine Pageant…
Worst of DCA Meals & Wine
Earth Eats Sales space – The 2 dishes listed below are:
- IMPOSSIBLE Rooster Parm Bites with tomato and cheese sauces and grated parmesan
- IMPOSSIBLE Beef Stroganoff: Egg noodles tossed in a mushroom cream sauce with IMPOSSIBLE beef and bitter cream
Each are unbelievably dangerous. You may even say they’re Impossibly terrible. And by that, I imply how did these even get authorized for the menus? Did anybody with functioning style buds strive them beforehand? Of the 2, the rooster parm bites are the larger offender, tasting like breaded cardboard slathered with flavorless sauce and flavorless cheese.
By comparability, the meat stroganoff is okay-ish, because the pretend meat right here is okay and the noodles aren’t the worst factor ever. However the totality of the dish continues to be bland and boring, largely devoid of taste or depth. The issue with each dishes is that they’re too dependent upon pretend variations of actual meals, and consequently, there’s little or no that’s regular to masks the lab-made elements. In any case, this sales space is a straightforward skip. Earth Eats makes the Italy sales space at EPCOT seem like a master-class within the culinary arts.
Baja-style Fish Taco (LA Model) – This “fish” taco is served with cabbage slaw, cilantro-lime crema and pico de gallo. I didn’t notice this was plant-based after I first began consuming it, and my preliminary response was, “wow, they used a low-quality fish stick for the meat right here.” Upon realizing it was plant-based, I felt just a little higher in regards to the taco…however nonetheless not nice.
The distinction between this taco and the Earth Eats stuff is that there’s an ample quantity of toppings right here and it nearly works at masking the flavour of the fake-meat fish. Not fairly, although. If you happen to’re dead-set on making an attempt this dish, don’t let me dissuade you–it’s not practically as dangerous because the “meals” at Earth Eats.
Ultimately, my disappointment with these three dishes will not be merely a vendetta towards Not possible or plant-based meals. On the contrary, I might love some lighter and veggie-forward counterprogramming to the comforting delicacies on the different cubicles. The issue is that these dishes are largely extra of the identical–heavy and hearty, however not practically pretty much as good. This made me actually miss the Artichoke sales space, which had provided exactly that previously. Your mileage could fluctuate, although.
Planning a Southern California trip? For park admission offers, learn Suggestions for Saving Cash on Disneyland Tickets. Study on-site and off-site resorts in our Anaheim Resort Evaluations & Rankings. For the place to eat, try our Disneyland Restaurant Evaluations. For distinctive concepts of issues that’ll enhance your journey, try What to Pack for Disney. For complete recommendation, seek the advice of our Disneyland Trip Planning Information. Lastly, for guides past Disney, try our Southern California Itineraries for day journeys to Los Angeles, Laguna Seashore, and tons of different locations!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you could have any favourite–or least favourite–savory snacks or decadent desserts on the 2024 Disney California Journey Meals & Wine Pageant? Will you be attending the occasion? Any new or returning cubicles you’re excited to strive? Do you agree or disagree with our picks for the most effective & worst dishes on the 2024 Disney California Journey Meals & Wine Pageant? Share any questions, suggestions, or further ideas you could have within the feedback!
