Disney’s California Adventure Food & Wine Festival

One of my favorite things about visiting Walt Disney World is attending the multiple festivals they have each year at Epcot. And one of my favorite festivals at Epcot has always been the Food and Wine Festival. When I found out a few years ago that Disneyland had a Food and Wine Festival as well and that it occurred during my birthday month, I just knew I had to check it out some year. 2023 was finally the year that I flew across the country to attend Disney’s California Adventure Food and Wine Festival for my birthday.

The Food and Wine Festival at Disney’s California Adventure started in 2006 and is held annually in March and April each year. What started off as just two food booths in 2006, has grown to a full-blown festival with 12 food and beverage kiosks throughout the theme park as well as special festival items on the menu at restaurants throughout the theme park.

The Food

Due to Epcot having the different country pavilions around the World Showcase, they tend to have international cuisine available at each country’s kiosk. At the Food and Wine Festival at California Adventure, they feature cuisine made with fresh ingredients grown in the state of California. The festival features the following food kiosks:

• LA Style – featuring Glazed BBQ Pork Belly and Impossible Gyro-Inspired Naan
• D Lish – featuring Beef & Barley Poutine and Cubano Slider

• Peppers Cali-Ente – featuring Chile Relleno Empanada and Camarones a la Diabla
• I ❤️Artichokes – featuring Artichoke Pizzetta and Artichoke Toast with Olive Tapenade
• Avocado Time – featuring Impossible Nacho Mac & Cheese and Impossible Al Pastor Taco
• Cluck-A-Doodle Moo – featuring Smoked Honey Habanero Chicken Wings and BBQ Beef Brisket
• Nuts About Cheese – featuring Petite Burrata and Mickey Mouse Shaped Macaron Made with Snickers.

• Golden Dreams – featuring Elote Paleta and Roasted Beef & Goat Cheese Flatbread
• Garlic Kissed – featuring Grilled Top Sirloin and Carbonara Garlic Mac & Cheese
• Berry Patch – featuring Kenny’s Family Cheesecake and Blueberry Buttermilk Pie

As you can tell from the list, there is quite the variety of food, from main meal items for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians to delicious desserts. You could definitely create a full meal with a few items from the ten food kiosks mentioned above.

On a side note, I highly recommend the Mickey Mouse Shaped Macaron Made with Snickers and it’s huge, so definitely something to share with others or you can be like me and have it all to yourself.

The Beverages

While it’s called the Food and Wine Festival, there is definitely plenty of delicious California wine to drink as well as many other beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, as well.

At the food kiosks you can purchase some really delicious drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.

The alcoholic drinks available at the food kiosks are mainly mixed drinks. Some examples of what’s available are below:

• D Lish – Sake-Melon ’75 and Apricot Tequila Colada
• Peppers Cali-Ente – Cantarito-Style Paloma
• I ❤️Artichokes – Passion Fruit Rum Cocktail
• Cluck-A-Doodle Moo – Chipotle-Pineapple Bourbon Sour and Smoked Cherry Mezcal-iki Cocktail
• Golden Dreams – Central California Cooler
• Garlic Kissed – Raspberry Limoncello-Ade and Guava-Lychee Mule

Some examples of the non-alcoholic drinks are listed below:

• Berry Patch – Blueberry Pancake Cold Brew
• Avocado Time – Blackberry-Lavender Lemonade

In keeping with the name of the festival, there is a whole kiosk devoted to wine. I’m sadly not a wine drinker since it gives me terrible migraines, but I must admit, given how much wine comes from California, I would have thought there would have been more than one kiosk devoted to wine. Regardless, the Uncork California kiosk features wines from some great California Vineyards:

• Daou Vineyards in Paso Robles California
• Duckhorn Vineyards in St. Helena California
• Garnet Vineyards from Sonoma Coast California
• Robert Mondavi Vineyard in Napa California

Uncork California offers wine by the glass as well as mimosa, white wine and red wine flights.

As many wine lovers there are out there in the world, there are just as many beer lovers so of course there is a kiosk devoted just to beer.

The California Craft Beer kiosks has beers from craft breweries all over Southern California:

• Unsung Brewing Company in Anaheim California
• Brewery X in Anaheim California
• Ballast Point Brewing Co. in San Diego California
• Golden Road Brewing in Los Angeles California

They also offer a few different flight options: Bright & Balanced Beer Flight, IPA Beer Flight and Fun with Flavor Beer Flight.

I cannot recommend trying the Brewery X Pineapple Vanilla Milkshake IPA enough, it was so incredibly delicious, it just may be one of the best beers I’ve ever had. And it’s part of the IPA Beer Flight which was how I first tried it and since it was so good, I ended up getting a full size one later in the day.

The craft beer industry has grown tremendously in the US over the past few years, and California is no exception. Over 90% of Californians live within 10 miles of a craft brewery. There are over 1,000 craft breweries throughout the state and 28 of them are featured at Disney’s California Adventure Food and Wine Festival.

There is also a festival beer garden where you can enjoy even more craft beer options from California.

Along with the food and beverage kiosks, many of the quick service and table service restaurants throughout California Adventure theme park also have special festival food and beverages available.

More about the festival

There is more to the festival than just the food and beverages kiosks, including the following:

• Alice’s Wonderland Bakery Unbirthday Party Culinary Demonstration
• Cathay Circle Winemakers Reception
• Cocktails at Sonoma Terrace Beverage Seminar
• Live musical entertainment

• Kids craft area
• Festival Marketplaces to shop for your favorite festival souvenirs
• Artist signings each weekend
• Photo opportunities with Chef Goofy
• Special magic shots available like the one below with Remy from Ratatouille

Sip and Savor Pass

Do you plan to visit the festival on multiple days and want to be able to try many of the different food offerings at the festival? The Sip and Savor Pass could be a great value for you, depending on the price of the food items you are wanting to purchase.

In 2023, the Sip and Savor Pass cost $59 and includes 8 tabs redeemable for food or non-alcoholic beverages at the festival. If you are a Magic Key Holder or a Disney Visa Cardholder, you can receive a slight discount on this pass.

These 8 tabs can be used at any point during the festival in the year it was purchased but do expire at the end of the festival that year.

Disney’s California Adventure is a special theme park to visit and the Food and Wine Festival definitely adds to the fun you can have there. If you are looking for the perfect place to stay while visiting the festival, The Disneyland Hotel is one of many hotels within walking distance, so you can fully enjoy the beverages at the festival without needing a designated driver.

The festival runs thru April 25th in 2023, but if you can’t make it this year, definitely add it to your bucket list for a future year. Beyond The Miles Travel would love to help you plan your trip to this delicious festival.

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