Your Guide to the BEST Eats and Drinks at the 2024 Festival of Holidays at Disney California Adventure

Happy Holidays — er, should we say, Happy Festival of Holidays! Now that we’ve dined at EVERY Festival food location, we can safely say that Disney California Adventure knows how to celebrate the season in style.

Festival of Holidays is BACK in Disney California Adventure and is happening now through January 6th, 2025. There’s new entertainment (including an Encanto show and a Coco show), characters, and tons of new menu items to try this year. But what’s the best of the fest this year? What’s worth your money? We’ve got a FULL LIST of our favorite snacks and drinks this year!

Brews & Bites

The Chicken Chicharrón is served with basmati rice, herb chutney, and masala drizzle for $8. This is a pretty big portion, so come hungry! 

This dish had a little kick to it, and there was a bright Mediterranean and Indian flare thanks to the herbs and spices. It was tangy and citrusy, and all the flavors worked quite nicely together. The chicken was nice and crispy, even with the drizzle of sauce on top. This was a standout at the booth, and we totally recommend giving it a try! 

Favorite Things 

This booth fully deserves its name. We enjoyed pretty much EVERYTHING from this spot! First, we have to talk about the Braised Pork Belly Adobo, served with garlic rice. At $9.50, you get a delicious, well-seasoned, tender piece of meat topped with a crunch on top (similar to a pork rind). The garlic rice adds a nice additional flavor to the dish as a whole. Honestly, all the flavors and textures just meld together perfectly.

Take one look at this  Sticky Toffee Pudding Macaron. Of COURSE it was a fan favorite! This one is available for $8. This is a new item that is filled with vanilla buttercream, date cake, and salted toffee sauce. Not only was it probably the cutest thing we ate at this festival, but it was also quite tasty. The salted toffee flavor with the vanilla buttercream and the date cake created a perfect blend of flavors that wasn’t too sweet. We’ve had a lot of macarons in Disneyland, but this could be one of the best. 

To wash it all down, we ordered the Spiced Coconut Cocktail for $17.50, made with dark rum, spice tea, coconut purée, and evaporated and condensed milks, garnished with nutmeg and a wafer stick.

If the holidays had a flavor, this would be it. The strongest flavor is the coconut, followed by the rum, but the nutmeg adds the perfect amount of spice. This drink gave us that warm fuzzy Christmas feeling. YUM. Bravo, Disney! This booth did not disappoint. 

Grandma’s Recipes

A returning snack is BACK again this year, and it’s just as good as we remembered. We loved the Barbacoa Tamal de Res! This dish is served with Oaxaca cheese, tomatillo salsa, and crema and costs $9.25.

This dish was sooo good! Be warned, though, the tomatillo salsa was pretty spicy. The meat inside the tamale was well-seasoned, but what really made this dish was the cheese mixed with crema. This dish felt fairly priced for what you get and had a rich, savory flavor. 

Holiday Duets 

You can’t go wrong with a warm, cheesy pasta dish, right? We loved the Savory Kugel Mac & Cheese for $8.50 this year. It is finished with herb breadcrumbs, sour cream, and chives — YUM. 

This dish was super rich and creamy! It was full of cheesy goodness and plenty of sour cream. The breadcrumbs added a great texture, too. If you are looking for a rich mac & cheese, this dish will be a winner. Do yourself a favor and order this!

Merry Mashups

One word: WOW! The M&M’S Peanut Butter Fudge Cake is $7.50 and is every bit as rich and amazing as it looks. The dessert is chocolate fudge cake filled with peanut praline and M&M’s Peanut Butter Minis, glazed with salted peanut butter, and topped with vanilla Chantilly crème. 

This was extremely rich and fudgy, so be prepared to share. The M&M’s Peanut Butter Minis are basically just Reese’s Pieces, which was a win for us candy-lovers. As you can see from the photos, that topping is a thick, sticky peanut butter, and the peanut praline is perfectly crunchy. 

A Twist on Tradition

We found TWO big hits at this booth! First was the Barbecue Pulled Pork Cornbread Bake with creamy slaw! The cornbread used in this dish was very sweet, and the barbecue sauce was a little on the tangy side but nothing too overpowering. We were surprised to see that the cornbread had actual pieces of corn inside it and was served warm with the slaw (which we also found to be fairly average). It was pretty mild tasting but definitely one that stuck out to us above the rest. 

Additionally, the returning Berry Pomegranate Paloma was ICONIC! It’s made with Blanco Tequila, blueberry purée, lime, cranberry, and pomegranate juices, and agave syrup topped with Fresca and garnished with a chili-lime rim and orange wheel and is priced at a whopping $18. 

It was fresh and fruity with the addition of the lime, cranberry, and blueberry working together, which gave it a sweet and tart taste. The chili-lime rim was made of Tajin and it was topped with a fresh orange slice to help bring this drink’s presentation together! This was a great drink. 

Winter Sliderland 

Despite the name, we actually liked the DRINKS more than the sliders. The Cookies and Cream Hazelnut Hot Cocoa is made with Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Co. hot chocolate with cookies and cream flavors, melted chocolate, hazelnut purée, and Irish cream syrup garnished with strawberry whipped cream for $6.50. You can also get a boozy version with Irish Cream liqueur for $17. This was definitely a sweet drink! But it was delicious. The melted chocolate taste and the rich hazelnut paired really well with the strawberry whipped cream. Sometimes, a warm, sweet drink is just what you need. 

We also were surprisingly pleased with the Jelly Donut Punch, made with apricot nectar, house-made raspberry and strawberry jam syrup, cookie butter, and lemon juice, garnished with a skewered powdered sugar donut hole. This is priced at $7.50. 

This was our favorite drink of the booth – and possibly the festival! The donut was moist and sweet, and we loved the punch itself. We could taste each ingredient – except for the cookie butter. Still, this was a hit!

As you can see, we had a LOT of winning dishes this year! Give these a try if you visit the park during the event. In the meantime, we’re always on the lookout for the latest Disney news, so stay tuned for more.

FULL MENUS Revealed for 2024 Festival of Holidays at Disneyland Resort

What is your favorite Disney snack of all time? Let us know in the comments!

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