Have you visited the 2025 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival? If you haven’t made it out to this annual event, you do have time, but you’d better hurry as the celebration ends on April 21st.
I stopped in for the first time recently and enjoyed some of the festival fun, including some of the new food items.
Since, I was traveling alone this trip, I needed to pare my choices down, because even though I could just have a taste and not eat the whole thing…why would I??
I decided to purchase a Sip and Savor Pass to see if I could save a little money. The Passes were available in 4-item [$32] or 8-item [$64] versions, making the magical break even price point $8 for both passes. I purchased the 4-item Pass for my visit.
Now, let’s see how I did.
I recommend that you not stop at Golden Dreams or even Peppers Cali-ente, two of the first Marketplaces you encounter. The lines to order there are typically long. Keep in mind that if you find a short line at any of the Marketplaces, you can order everything from any of the Marketplaces all at once. There are occasionally moratoriums on this, but it is definitely a time saver.
Also, if there is a line at the Sip and Savor Cart, you can purchase it in several other places, including one of the Marketplaces.
My first stop was Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo because there was zero line to order, and one of the items on my list was there. Perfect! I purchased the Pass here and ordered all four items at once.
I was only trying items that were new this year, so I picked the Asá DOS [$9.75], which featured grilled skirt steak, chipotle chicken, Spanish rice and salsa verde. The steak and chicken were decent, but most of the flavor and spice was actually in the vinegary salsa verde. The surprise for me was the Spanish rice, which is typically dry and bland. The rice on this dish was neither. It was delicious and I ended up finishing it all. It might be a little pricey if you’re paying for it individually, but it’s a great value with the Sip and Savor Pass.
Next I hit Peppers Cali-ente for the Corn Chip Chili Pie [$8.00]. This was served in a small lunch bag and contained corn chips topped with seasoned Impossible beef, spicy cheese sauce, tomatoes, fresh jalapeños, and crema. I’m a sucker for a Frito Boat or Frito Pie or whatever they call it where you live, so I had to try this and I was not disappointed. This was VERY filling and is definitely shareable. It was delicious, though, so you might not want to share. Keep in mind that even after pulling off the peppers, there was still heat coming from the cheese sauce. This is a vegetarian dish, but NOT a vegan dish.
My final stop was at Mercado de Antojos, a Marketplace that is brand new for this year’s Festival. Birria is all the rage right now, so why not put it on top of mac & cheese? The Birria Mac & Cheese [$9.00] was topped with onion-cilantro sauce and tortilla strip crumbles.
I was so excited for this dish…and so disappointed when I tried it. For me, the birria beef was very salty. In addition, my mac & cheese was slightly watery. As I had enjoyed the entire chili pie, I wasn’t super hungry, so I gave up after a few bites of this. My hope is that I got a bad batch and I will definitely be giving this another try when I’m back later in the Festival.
Dessert was the Café de Olla Tres Leches Cake [$7.75], with Café de Olla infused tres leches cake topped with piloncillo chantilly, cinnamon and a Mickey-shaped cookie. I have issues with texture, so I’m not a huge fan of tres leches cake. I did, however, enjoy this dessert. It was actually a little denser than the tres leches cake that I’m used to and wasn’t overly sweet. The Mickey cookie on top reminded me of the classic pink and white circus animal cookies and was a nice touch.
Despite not eating much of the mac & cheese, I was full from my tastings. The individual cost of my 4 items would have been $34.50, so I saved $2.50 by purchasing the Sip and Savor Pass. Since I enjoyed (and finished) 3 out of 4 of the items, I think I did pretty well.
Keep in mind that the Food & Wine Festival is not limited to just food and/or wine. There is also some fun entertainment, unique character meets, artist signings, merchandise, and culinary demonstrations. In addition, each year the Festival includes the return of Soarin’ Over California to Grizzly Peak.
Do you have a favorite food item that I should try next time I visit the Festival or something you’re looking forward to when you have a chance to visit during the next two weeks? Don’t wait too long as the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival ends on April 21, 2025.
