California Adventure Food & Wine ~ April 2016

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I'm really looking forward to welcoming back Food & Wine!

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...ival-coming-weekends-in-april/#comment-150065

Attention foodies! I’m excited to tell you that Disney California Adventure park will soon be filled with even more fabulous food and an awakening of the senses when the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival begins April 1.



This month-long festival, taking place during weekends in April, will celebrate some of the best of delicious California cuisine. A distinguishing feature will be new Festival Marketplaces, where guests can sip and savor delicious flavors from throughout the state of California. The Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival will also include culinary demonstrations, appearances by celebrity chefs and informative seminars.

We’ll have more information to share soon, including how you can reserve your seat at the premium experiences taking place during the festival. Mark your calendar now for the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival, weekends beginning April 1 at Disney California Adventure park.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Excited to hear this! We loved the dca festival way more than wdw's!

 

[ADLFAN]

Yessssssss! I'm always insanely jealous of people's WDW Food and Wine pictures! I'll just start my trip planning now!

 

[Nermel9]

I'm so excited this is coming back, and that I'll actually be there for it! I love WDW's Food and Wine Festival, so I can't wait to see what this one is like!

 

[gottalovepluto]

OHMYGOSH! I dreamed of Disney doing this but just assumed there was no way Disney would bring it back after taking it away! I wonder how it will compare with WDW food and wine? Is it like a mini-CA focused version?

 

[gottalovepluto]

It's only on weekends? Bummer, we never do weekends just too crowded. Still, very excited to see what the offerings are!

 

[sweethannah]

My husband is going to be SO HAPPY! DD and I love Disney, he enjoys it mostly for us and because he can snack to his hearts content. This will make his day!

 

[Sherry E]

I'm glad to hear this, as I never experienced the previous F&W Festival. It was originally only supposed to be cancelled for 2011 and 2012, but then it somehow forgot to return in 2013, 2014 and 2015 too!

While all of the construction madness was happening in DCA several years ago, Disney put more focus on Disneyland and special things happening there. Now that parts of Disneyland are going to be under construction and the Diamond Anniversary is slowly winding down, I had a feeling that they would begin to shift focus back to DCA. Also, with 2016 being DCA's 15th anniversary it doesn't hurt to have special events in DCA throughout the year. (I would not be shocked to see a Christmas party pop up in DCA this year.)

 

[Angel Ariel]

OHMYGOSH! I dreamed of Disney doing this but just assumed there was no way Disney would bring it back after taking it away! I wonder how it will compare with WDW food and wine? Is it like a mini-CA focused version?

We actually liked it better than WDW's F&W festival ,at least in how it was done before the DCA construction. DCA had different wine walks where it was like $10 to try a bunch of different wines (same with beers) - much more like wine tasting at a winery than at WDW where it's just buying full glasses.

The cooking demonstrations were also a lot more front and center at DCA than they are at WDW. There was at least one spot set up near the front of the park where you could hear what was going on, and see the chef demonstrating, even if you weren't attending that demonstration. So you didn't get to eat what they made (only theattendees did), but you could watch and listen to it all. IIRC, there was also no charge for that demonstration spot..it was just line up and first come first served to sit down and attend the demo. In our demo, I still remember learning how to make (and then eating) candied bacon, and then using bacon as a way to make small serving cups in little muffin pans (and let me say, candied bacon is yuuuuumy. brown sugar+ bacon = yum).

We also did one of the special events that had to be booked in advance - the Sweet Sunday. The price, as I recall, was more accessible than WDW's, and it was an amazing experience! They served us brunch and champagne while the celebrity chef demonstrated 3 desserts that we all then got to try (the chef was one of the bakers that always appeared on the old Food Network Challenge show where they had the cake challenges). We got to take a picture with the chef afterwards too.

That whole F&W experience at DCA was one of the most memorable Disney experiences we've had together! We enjoyed Epcot's F&W festival also, but because the demonstrations are so much more out of the way it feels more like an "eat around the world" experience at the different country kiosks...not that that's bad, but we much preferred the cooking demonstration/winery tasting feel that we got at DCA!

 

[readytogotodisney]

I'm really excited for this!! We're planning on a Southern California trip for next March 24-April 2, now I just need to make sure that I'm in DL for our last part of our trip.

Well we're going in 2017, I hope it comes back around next year too!

 

[figment_jii]

I'm glad to hear that the F&W will be returning to DCA this year! I wonder how much will be the same and how much will be different from the previous F&W...it should be fun!

 

[grelca]

Ooooh I guess that answers the question of whether my mom and I are going on Sunday or Monday when she comes to visit in April.

I've always wanted to do the F&W festival at Epcot but haven't had the chance to. I didn't even realize DLR had one, too!

 

[Sherry E]

Ooooh I guess that answers the question of whether my mom and I are going on Sunday or Monday when she comes to visit in April.

I've always wanted to do the F&W festival at Epcot but haven't had the chance to. I didn't even realize DLR had one, too!

For the last several years, DLR hasn't had a F&W Festival. The last one we had was in 2010. It was specifically cancelled for 2011 and 2012, and then it just never came back -- until this year!

 

[fantasmicfantastic]

Wow, I forgot about this event. My wife and I went one year, and I enjoyed a beer tasting area. From what I remember, I paid around $20 and got to sample several different beers. My wife didn't want any of the alcohol, so I sipped them in the tasting area while talking to her with a rope dividing us (she wasn't allowed in the small area because she wasn't drinking). Darn, the one year my wife and I skip DL to go on a Disney cruise and WDW, they bring back an awesome event. Oh well, hopefully it'll be back next year.

 

[meower13]

so it says weekends, but starting April 1st which is a Friday, do I dare hope that Friday afternoons might be included in the weekend?!

 

[SMD]

I think that they'll have to do it a little bit differently because some of the areas they used to use aren't there anymore. I do remember some demonstrations in what is now the WOC viewing, if they do that again they'd have to remove everything and bring it back every day. I wonder if they'll move to some place like stage 17. It's interesting that they're staring on the 1st, since the 1st and 2nd are blocked for the So Cal ticket offer and military salute. I assume that weekend will be extremely crowded already.

 

[figment_jii]

I remember the last year I went (2010, I think), a lot of the demos and stuff we're back in the building that used to house the Mad T Party arcade. Stage 17 would also be a good option for the indoor stuff now that Olaf is no longer using it. I wonder if they'll have food booths (like Epcot's F&W) or if most of the items will be scattered at the various CS locations (like they did previously). I hope for food booths!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

so it says weekends, but starting April 1st which is a Friday, do I dare hope that Friday afternoons might be included in the weekend?!

Typically, weekends at Disneyland are Friday - Sunday.

 

[courtneybeth]

count me in for all of the weeks. This is going to be amazing.

 

[bumbershoot]

Clever timing to pull people who might think about seeing the Wizarding World after its official opening.

I know that I now want to go.