I Just Checked Out Disneyland Resort's Food & Wine Festival, And I Have High Praise For Two Dishes

I’m a lifelong Southern California resident who has been going to Disneyland Resort literally my whole life, and as I’ve realized, you go to the original Disneyland for nostalgia and child-like joy and Disney’s California Adventure (DCA) for the food! But, this was the first time I really got to go all in on the Food & Wine Festival – which is going on from now until April 12. Now that I’ve been, I can officially recommend my personal hands down highlight.

The Mac & Cheese At DCA’s Food & Wine Festival Is Everything

During my recent visit to California Adventure, I tried most of what’s on the menu by traveling around to as many carts as I could between being in ride queues. It’s been a week since I went, and I kid you not, I’m still thinking the most about the two mac & cheese dishes they are currently offering. I’m quite surprised, I have to say, because theme parks can easily make a lazy mac & cheese dish, but these are absolutely worth it.

My number one is something called Ramen mac & cheese, which is a take on the American classic with furikake crumble, fish cakes, green onions and a side sauce of chili crunch. We didn’t have high hopes for it, but were curious about it, and we were not disappointed! You can grab it at the Peppers Cali-Ente cart between Avengers Campus and Carthay Circle.

After feeling like we hit the jackpot with the ramen mac & cheese, we decided to try the other one the Food & Wine Festival offers, and it was just as good! This one is called Sirloin gruyére mac & cheese, which puts a spin on the cheesy pasta dish by having black garlic chimichurri, garlic butter crunch and Fresno chili slices alongside pieces of sirloin beef. You can grab that one between Mickey’s Fun Wheel and The Little Mermaid ride.

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What Else Should You Try At The Food & Wine Festival?

Of course, I should note that I didn’t get to try everything (I was there for my own fun), but had to spread the gospel about how genuinely good the mac & cheese is there! Other highlights about the festival are all the drink options, like there being two wine flight options ($23 each), a mimosa flight and paloma flight, and interesting drinks like a Pickle Whiskey Sour, a Bourbon Peach Tea Lemonade and a bunch of others to explore.

If you are more into the food than getting your drink on, I would recommend getting the Sip & Savor pass, which allows you to have four or eight dishes (depending on how much you want to eat/spend on food) around the festival. The only con of getting into the Food & Wine Festival is it made us feel like we needed to wait more in between rides to settle our stomachs from the mac & cheese, so I would only partake if you’re OK with not seeing everything there. We got three-day California Resident tickets so we had just been last month to the resort and will be back before the end of May to hit more rides.

Since you’re here, check out an exciting theme park deal for families happening right now and what upcoming Walt Disney World attractions are on the way if you’re more of a Florida Disney fan.