The Disneyland Resort has some of the best theme park food available, but picky me always has trouble deciding on breakfast when I “rope drop” Disney California Adventure.
Disneyland Park has a breakfast character meal, two sit-down breakfast options, two bakeries, and several counter-service breakfast options. California Adventure has a brunch, one bakery, and a few counter-service breakfast options. California Adventure has some great options for lunch and dinner, but I think the breakfast options are lacking. On a recent visit, I set out to prove my point.
I’m a simple (aka picky) guy, so my go-to in Disneyland Park is a fresh pastry from Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe (and a diet soda or water). I’m not a huge fan of Starbucks pastries or the Starbucks lines, so I typically avoid Market House.
Since California Adventure doesn’t have an equivalent to Jolly Holiday, I had to find another option. I stopped at the information booth near the entrance to see if they had any ideas that I hadn’t already thought of. While they had a few ideas, there were no surprises.
Let’s go through the breakfast options that we came up with.
Lamplight Lounge near Pixar Pier serves brunch from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm and reservations are recommended. The menu includes a brunch burger, French toast, chilaquiles, omelets, and steak and eggs. Prices range from $22 to $31. They also serve brunch cocktails and mimosas. Since I was dining alone (and on a budget), I decided to skip the brunch.
Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe is on Buena Vista Street and serves Starbucks coffees, sandwiches, and pastries. While the line isn’t nearly as long as Market House, there can be a long line. I was hoping for a better option, so I moved on.
In addition to their menu of shakes and smoothies, Schmoozies! in Hollywood Land is currently offering Hazelnut Mickey-shaped waffles [$10.99]. Those sound delicious, but for another time. There also really isn’t seating in the area and I needed to plan my day, so I continued on.
Over in Avengers Campus, Pym Test Kitchen serves highly themed breakfasts with highly themed names. The Calculated Breakfast = E x 2 + (B+P)/T* is a classic American breakfast with eggs, potatoes and toast. The Cinna-Pym Toast 2.0 is French toast with bacon. I want to try the French toast at some point, but I passed this time around.
I ended up at Smokejumpers Grill in Grizzly Peak. The breakfast menu there includes French toast sticks, a breakfast sandwich, and two breakfast burritos.
By the time I decided on Smokejumpers, I was a little disillusioned with the selection at California Adventure, so I chose the very basic French Toast Sticks [$9.99], served with berries and syrup. The sticks were served warm and were nice and crispy. While I ate the berries, I thought they were kind of unnecessary. The syrup was the basic fast food syrup served in a dipping cup. Still, a filling and delicious breakfast for under $10.
While I left Smokejumpers full, I’m not sure my quest for a great breakfast option was successful. I did find a few surprises that I want to try next time, such as the French toast at Pym or the hazelnut waffles at Schmoozes!, but I still think that Disney California Adventure needs more breakfast options.
Do you eat breakfast in the parks? What do you think about the breakfast options available in Disneyland and Disney California Adventure?
