California Adventure Food & Wine ~ April 2016

[squeezle]

That works, thanks @Sherry E!

Yippee! I am so excited about the festival!

 

[mich311e]

--deleted--

 

[figment_jii]

This link isn't working for me... Stitch ate it

View attachment 157052

Sorry about that...I reset the URL and tested it. It should work this time.

 

[sweethannah]

I don't know if it's already been posted but the link to the menus with pricing is now on Disneyland.com. None of the prices for the foodie items seem to be over $8. I'm really looking forward to hearing more about possible new menu items being added to existing resort menus as well.

 

[mgd]

Should we expect DCA to be unusually crowded during the weekends in april due to this?

 

[Sherry E]

Should we expect DCA to be unusually crowded during the weekends in april due to this?

In my mind, yes. I have no way of knowing, of course, because this event hasn't happened in 6 years and DCA is, in many ways, a different park now than it was then. Because this event has been gone for so long, there is a novelty factor to it. I would expect the first day and weekend of F&W to be extra crowded, especially. Because this event is not happening on weekdays (I include Fridays as part of the weekends, really), then the window of time in which to experience F&W will be more narrow than if it were a daily event.

There will be other factors affecting crowds, of course, but in terms of the Annual Pass influence on the crowds (over which I know a lot of people fret), this is what to expect:

If I am not mistaken, I think that the only day the SoCal Select AP holders can get into DCA during F&W is Friday, April 29th. That's it. Just one day.

However, the regular SoCal AP holders (those who still have the legacy passes) can get into DCA on every single Friday in April except for April 1st, and they can get in on every Sunday (including May 1st). No Saturdays.

The Deluxe AP holders can get into DCA on every single Friday in April, every Sunday in April, and also on May 1st (which is the last day of F&W). They cannot get in on Saturdays.

Premium APs (for people who still have the legacy passes) and Signature APs have access to all days of Food & Wine.



So, I am expecting April 29th to be particularly crowded, because it will be open to all levels of AP, as well as all of the non-AP holders.

I think that Fridays and Sundays will be very busy, due to SoCal (not Select) and Deluxe having access to those days (along with Premium and Signature).

Saturdays will be the days when only the Premium and Signature folks can get in (along with the non-AP folks, of course), and I don't know how many people have those APs, so it will be interesting to compare the Saturday crowds to the Friday/Sunday crowds.

 

[Niltiac]

If anyone attends on Friday or Saturday, a quick report would be greatly appreciated! We are going on Sunday and it's our only day for F&W, so I'm wondering how well the event will handle crowds in terms of the non-reserved demonstrations. I know it will be busy, but I don't know if it will be the usual "get there early and bring your patience" busy, or "choose your top priority and camp out for spot" busy. Luckily we have a couple of beverage seminars booked and we don't have particular expectations to get in to anything else, but it's good to have an idea what we're walking into.

 

[taniahappy]

We will be there on Fri & Sat so will post reports on each night (as soon was we get back toy our rooms)

 

[bookgirl]

Well now that menu's are out, I've changed my plans. I was not planning on getting hoppers so was going to do DCA on Friday so that I could do some tasting, but it works out better to do DL on Friday for me so I think I will just see what is available on Tuesday/Wednesday and do DL on Thursday/Friday. Honestly I just don't see anything in the current menu's that make me think a special trip on Friday worth paying for a park hopper. I am glad they are doing a limited menu on M-Th so I can maybe try some of the items that look interesting.

 

[mich311e]

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.

 

[figment_jii]

The F&W Festival webpage has updated their information to include some of the perks available for Annual Passholders.
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/events-tours/disney-california-adventure/food-and-wine-festival/

I feel like I'm missing something...because the Passholder Tasting Passport doesn't seem like a very good deal. It's $45 and you can select any 6 food items you want from the Festival Marketplaces. To break even, the average price of the items selected would need to be $7.50 (after tax) or about $7.00 (before tax). According to the signboard photos I've seen, the prices posted on Disneyland.com do not include tax. But even then, there are only three items above $7.00 before tax (Zinfandel-Braised Wagyu Beef ($8.00), Grilled Beef Tenderloin Slider ($7.75), and Chilled Shrimp and Snow Crab Cocktail ($7.50)). I'm curious to hear back from AP holders how it went with the Passport and if it was economical.
.

 

[courtneybeth]

perks available for Annual Passholders.

You also gain access to recipe cards and limited time buttons, plus the opportunity to buy a shirt. Sometimes the perks aren't worth the cost and really end up costing more!

 

[Sherry E]

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.

 

[Niltiac]

I feel like I'm missing something...because the Passholder Tasting Passport doesn't seem like a very good deal. It's $45 and you can select any 6 food items you want from the Festival Marketplaces. To break even, the average price of the items selected would need to be $7.50 (after tax) or about $7.00 (before tax). According to the signboard photos I've seen, the prices posted on Disneyland.com do not include tax. But even then, there are only three items above $7.00 before tax (Zinfandel-Braised Wagyu Beef ($8.00), Grilled Beef Tenderloin Slider ($7.75), and Chilled Shrimp and Snow Crab Cocktail ($7.50)). I'm curious to hear back from AP holders how it went with the Passport and if it was economical.
.

It would be worthwhile if it included wine/beer flights, but it specifically says "food items". I wonder if that's a mistake and it's supposed to include them.

 

[figment_jii]

Early reports on Twitter indicate that it is only for food items, but the cashiers are having some trouble redeeming the coupons. Hopefully, like most "new" events, they'll work out the bugs today and things will go more smoothly in the future.

 

[mgd]

but, but, it includes an annual passholder LANYARD!!!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

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'm glad to hear that Kurt is going to be a part of the Food & Wine. It makes sense since his Gogi wines are served at the Disneyland Resort.

A couple of years ago I went to a tasting room run by Kurt Russell's sister a little north of Santa Barbara. I recommend going there for a nice outing.

http://www.disunplugged.com/2014/04/10/dis-unplugged-podcast-041014-disneyland-show/

 

[ChrisNY2]

Has anyone noticed whether there are any Food and Wine Festival trading pins available for sale?

 

[sheetz]

Meh, nothing really interesting to me. You can find more interesting food at the Anaheim Packing District for a fraction of the cost. Even the Knott's Boysenberry Festival was better, IMO.

 

[arcadiandj]

Meh, nothing really interesting to me. You can find more interesting food at the Anaheim Packing District for a fraction of the cost. Even the Knott's Boysenberry Festival was better, IMO.

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?