California Adventure Food & Wine ~ April 2016

[Kender]

I'm curious about what happened with this:

"Themed commemorative Passholder buttons—with 4 different designs, one each week of the festival! (While supplies last.)"

Because when I was there on Friday, they said there would only be two buttons (stated changeover would happen after next weekend). And the picture on the wall where they had the AP Days button images previously definitely only showed two.

The good news is they're being more stingy with the recipe cards this time so everyone should have no problem getting them. Unlike AP Days, you had to scan to get both the button AND the recipe card this time. There were always buttons left over from previous AP Days weeks, but the recipe cards went fast as I saw people grabbing up tons of them.

The AP shirt was a generic unisex that was not special looking. Gave it a pass. I am sad I saw no pins. Not a trader, but collecting trip pins is my travel tradition. I thought the wine glass was pretty. They turned the Frozen item kiosk into festival merchandise overnight. Giggled over the fact there was blatant Disney World merchandise brought in (some stuff was more subtle with having Cinderella castle instead of Sleeping Beauty... but then there was flat out "Disney World" labeled merchandise). The plum colored v-neck ladies shirt was nice, but not enough to get. Was not impressed with the apron quality compared to similar style aprons Disney has had in stock recently.

I didn't find anything food wise that interested me, but I'm not a foodie. Food and I are not friends. I was fascinated by the different choices, though, and I heard good things.

Overall I found going day one pretty meh. I liked that APs had access to Blue Sky Cellar again (I had missed that there would be anything special for APs), but I found it more beneficial back in February as a stop to cool off in. And if I had needed it, the charge stations would have been nice.

That said, I think it's still worth checking out especially if anything sounds good.

 

[sheetz]

Knott's Boysenberry Festival was better?! That is NOT good news. I listened to the Dis Unplugged review and did not hear much that was good.

Would you post a report?

I listened to the podcast and while the hosts didn't like the Korean short ribs (sounds like the hosts had never eaten Korean short ribs before, which are not supposed to be braised and "falling off the bone") or the fried alligator, they were generally positive about the meatballs and panna cotta, and practically drooling over the flautas and fried boysenberry cheesecake so I don't agree with your assessment that they did not have much good to say. But the main point I'm trying to make is that the Knott's festival sounds fun, unique, and exciting, even if not everything quite hits the mark tastewise. Neveretheless just about everyone who went to the Knott's festival seemed to think the value was pretty good for the price paid, especially for the sampler card.

OTOH, DCA's food festival sounds boring, uninspired, and incredibly overpriced. The food sounds less interesting than some of the stuff on the menu at Carthay Cricle and Napa Rose. Thai curry? Macaroni and cheese? Shrimp cocktail? Seriously?

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I'm vegetarian so I'm really only interested in 2 things, lol. I'm definitely going to try the Anaheim Chile & Roasted Cauliflower Burrito with Jack Cheese and Avocado-Lime Crèma and the Southern California Flight.

I would recommend getting the burrito earlier in the day. I got there around 2:30 or so, and they were out of the burritos, though to be fair, they were making some more. We'd just have to wait another half hour. I didn't wait for it and got the shrimp taco, which was really good

Knott's Boysenberry Festival was better?! That is NOT good news. I listened to the Dis Unplugged review and did not hear much that was good.
Would you post a report?

I think I should have made that show, too. ha ha. I went the following week with my friend, Brenda, and we liked everything on the tasting card, and thought it was a good value that pretty much filled us up. We enjoyed the festival.

I listened to the podcast and while the hosts didn't like the Korean short ribs (sounds like the hosts had never eaten Korean short ribs before, which are not supposed to be braised and "falling off the bone") or the fried alligator, they were generally positive about the meatballs and panna cotta, and practically drooling over the flautas and fried boysenberry cheesecake so I don't agree with your assessment that they did not have much good to say. But the main point I'm trying to make is that the Knott's festival sounds fun, unique, and exciting, even if not everything quite hits the mark tastewise. Neveretheless just about everyone who went to the Knott's festival seemed to think the value was pretty good for the price paid, especially for the sampler card.

OTOH, DCA's food festival sounds boring, uninspired, and incredibly overpriced. The food sounds less interesting than some of the stuff on the menu at Carthay Cricle and Napa Rose. Thai curry? Macaroni and cheese? Shrimp cocktail? Seriously?

I think if compared to the DCA wine festival that they had a few years ago - it was better then. Be sure to get the little map so you can see where the different presentations and offerings are. I went yesterday and tried some of the food offerings, and saw one of the free presentations that I enjoyed very much. I also saw (from a distance) one of the beverage seminars on the trattoria patio, and it looked interesting. Some of the other regular eateries are offering new items, so I think walking around, checking things out, then getting selected bites would be fun to do, especially with friends.

 

[Linda67]

I would recommend getting the burrito earlier in the day. I got there around 2:30 or so, and they were out of the burritos, though to be fair, they were making some more.
I think if compared to the DCA wine festival that they had a few years ago - it was better then. Be sure to get the little map so you can see where the different presentations and offerings are. I went yesterday and tried some of the food offerings, and saw one of the free presentations that I enjoyed very much. I also saw (from a distance) one of the beverage seminars on the trattoria patio, and it looked interesting. Some of the other regular eateries are offering new items, so I think walking around, checking things out, then getting selected bites would be fun to do, especially with friends.

Where do you pick up the little map from MaryJo?

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

You get it when you first go in. I walked up to the information area in the Carthay Circle hub, and they had a bunch right there.

 

[ButterflyKisses77]

I'm glad that Kurt Russell was added into the Festival, on April 16th -- https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...ey-california-adventure-food-wine-festival-2/.

When I first heard about F&W returning, I couldn't remember if there had been any Kurt sightings at the last incarnation of F&W back in 2010 but I knew that he had gotten into winemaking over the last several years (maybe even longer ago than that). Because of his ongoing close connection to Disney and especially to Disneyland, I thought it seemed like a natural fit for Kurt to appear. When his name was not part of the original line-up I figured that maybe his schedule prohibited him from appearing.

Judging by the interaction I witnessed between Kurt and the CMs working at the GCH a few years back, they all like him and really appreciate that he comes out to do things for Disney here and there (like narrating the CP), and he seems to be a genuinely cool, friendly guy.

I'd love see him too but the tickets are $200!!

 

[ej119]

So excited to visit in a couple of weeks! Two questions I'm hoping people can answer for me:

1. I am a new AP and will be attending with someone who is not an AP. Am I allowed to bring him into the AP lounge at the Blue Sky Cellar with me, or does he have to wait outside?

2. I purchased beverage seminar for myself during our visit and now its sold out so my friend can't reserve a spot. For anyone who's done a beverage seminar so far, have you noticed if there are day-of spots available? I'm sure some people wouldn't show up.

 

[arcadiandj]

I listened to the podcast and while the hosts didn't like the Korean short ribs (sounds like the hosts had never eaten Korean short ribs before, which are not supposed to be braised and "falling off the bone") or the fried alligator, they were generally positive about the meatballs and panna cotta, and practically drooling over the flautas and fried boysenberry cheesecake so I don't agree with your assessment that they did not have much good to say. But the main point I'm trying to make is that the Knott's festival sounds fun, unique, and exciting, even if not everything quite hits the mark tastewise. Neveretheless just about everyone who went to the Knott's festival seemed to think the value was pretty good for the price paid, especially for the sampler card.

OTOH, DCA's food festival sounds boring, uninspired, and incredibly overpriced. The food sounds less interesting than some of the stuff on the menu at Carthay Cricle and Napa Rose. Thai curry? Macaroni and cheese? Shrimp cocktail? Seriously?

You make good points that I remember hearing. I'm not sure why I only remember the negative. Thank you for your input

 

[Niltiac]

So excited to visit in a couple of weeks! Two questions I'm hoping people can answer for me:

1. I am a new AP and will be attending with someone who is not an AP. Am I allowed to bring him into the AP lounge at the Blue Sky Cellar with me, or does he have to wait outside?

2. I purchased beverage seminar for myself during our visit and now its sold out so my friend can't reserve a spot. For anyone who's done a beverage seminar so far, have you noticed if there are day-of spots available? I'm sure some people wouldn't show up.

1. I don't think they will let him in, but you can ask when you're there. He wouldn't be missing much to be honest.

2. I was there yesterday and as we were lining up and checking in, there were people asking to make reservation changes. I don't know what the outcome was but it seemed like the CMs were trying to find spots for them. I would suggest looking online the day before because there's a 24 hr. cancellation rule. It's self-seating so you can sit together even on different reservations.

 

[taniahappy]

I loved it, got the AP Tasting passport and yeah yeah, its not the best deal in town BUT if you trade them for the more expensive items its worth it and you get the lanyard (only good for food !, there will be 3 different buttons (3 total, they change every 10 days) kinda what they did for AP Days and recipe cards.
On the first day, Friday, they did not open on time (at least all the Festival Marketplace spots), they ran our of some items early and then stocked up again later, I mean there were some glitches but like someone mentioned; it was the first days and overall I really enjoyed our weekend there.
The Beverage Seminars were so much fun as well as the Culinary Demonstrations (we saw 2 on Saturday; Chef Jamie Gwen and Chef Claudia Sandoval)
Anyway, just published a little bit of it if you wanna check it out

 

[Sherry E]

Don't hesitate to send feedback into Disneyland Resort, via their website, if you loved, hated or just felt so-so about the Food & Wine Festival, as well as anything you'd like to see at the Festival in future years. I don't know exactly what happens to the feedback and to whom it goes further up the chain of command, but they seem to be very tuned in to what people are saying right now. Recently I wrote in about bringing back the egg decorators and the pumpkin carvers. A CM at Guest Services tried repeatedly to reach me -- via phone and email -- and I didn't even ask for anyone to reply to me. She kept trying over and over and over until finally she got me. She just wanted to talk to me further about my thoughts on the eggs and pumpkins, the holiday season, etc., and give me a chance to expand a bit more on the subject. She was making notes as we were talking and then was going to pass on the thoughts to someone or another.

I don't know if anything will change in the future (for example, I don't think that complaints about ticket prices will do any good!), but the people at DLR seem to be very interested in hearing constructive, useful, creative feedback at this particular point in time --probably because DLR is going through so many changes, both small and large, and they really want to know what people are thinking, what they would like to see come back or go away, etc. The CM with whom I spoke chuckled over the wave of comments and emails that were sent in about the loss of the fried green tomato sandwich last year. So they are definitely reading the comments and responding to people to get detailed feedback -- especially if it is something they haven't gotten a lot of feedback about (as of yet).

 

[squeezle]

I understand that the demonstrations are only on the weekend, but are the Food & Wine Booths open during the week? We are going to be there on a Monday-Thursday later in the month, and I am hoping to get to try some thing.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Hey everyone, in case you didn't see (and sorry if I missed it on this thread), Kurt Russell will be at the Food and Wine for a Q&A session

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...ey-california-adventure-food-wine-festival-2/

Disney Legend Kurt Russell to Make Special Appearance at Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival

An additional event has been added to the festival – A Conversation with Kurt Russell will take place on April 16, 2016. This special event will be a 90-minute question and answer session with Disney Legend Kurt Russell about his adventures and personal journey in winemaking, complete with wine tasting. This special event will be $199 plus tax and gratuity, and can be booked by calling 714-781-DINE.


If you are unable to attend A Conversation with Kurt Russell, Napa Lounge and Restaurant at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, Steakhouse 55 at Disneyland Hotel and Carthay Circle Restaurant and Lounge in Disney California Adventure park are now presenting Kurt Russell wines by the glass.

 

[Sherry E]

Mary Jo -- You didn't miss it. I posted the link on the previous page, and you commented on it! http://www.disboards.com/threads/ca...-wine-april-2016.3484073/page-5#post-55467517



But other people may have missed it, so it's good to share it again!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Mary Jo -- You didn't miss it. I posted the link on the previous page, and you commented on it!


But other people may have missed it, so it's good to share it again!

Sheez!!!!!

 

[Sherry E]

Sheez!!!!!

I have no room to talk -- I was wandering around Hollywood Land during the Egg-stravaganza, wondering how I could have overlooked a giant water tower all of these years and never realized it was there! I need to turn in my Disneyland Resort Fan badge!

 

[sdchickie]

So it says the AP trading lanyard is $39 does that price include tax? I added up all the things I want to try and it came to $43 so it just might be worth it to me if the $39 already included tax.

 

[pudinhd]

I am not sure if I missed it somewhere, but when do the Festival Marketplaces open? Thanks!!

 

[mvf-m11c]

So it says the AP trading lanyard is $39 does that price include tax? I added up all the things I want to try and it came to $43 so it just might be worth it to me if the $39 already included tax.

The AP Festival Marketplace Tasting Passport costs $45.

I am not sure if I missed it somewhere, but when do the Festival Marketplaces open? Thanks!!

During last weeks visit, the kiosks didn't open until 11am (when the park opens at 8am).

 

[pudinhd]

During last weeks visit, the kiosks didn't open until 11am (when the park opens at 8am).

Thank you!!!