WDW vs DL Food and Wine Festival?

[WaDiWo]

HI all! I just learned that we will be in Disneyland for the California Adventure Food and Wine Festival this spring.
We have been to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival many times, and it is one of our favorite events.
How does the the one in Disneyland compare? Any tips? we are looking forward to it!

 

[DLgal]

Its smaller, but I like it better than WDWs.

It has better food, WAY better drinks (CA craft beer and wine > Florida craft beer and wine) and is more efficient. You can order and pay for ANY food/drink item from ANY booth and then take the receipt around the different booths to pick up your food, rather than having to stand in line to order and pay at each individual booth. So, make a list of what you want, find the shortest line and buy everything, then pick up items at your leisure throughout the day.

I like how the booths are spread out so you don't get congestion in just one part of the park. I also like how the foods are generally unique and inventive, and not the same items year after year like WDW tends to do. What I do NOT like is how pervasive fake meat is here, but I just avoid those items because I can't handle the texture of meat substitutes.

I also like how they have special items located at various quick service spots as well that you can mobile order.

This festival is popular and weekends can be crazy with long lines and items running out, so if at all possible, plan to do this on a weekday.

 

[gelatoni fan]

My family strongly prefers the food at Epcot, mainly due to more variety in Epcot. In California, I'm often forcing myself to eat something that feels similar to the last thing I ate while in Epcot, you can hop to a different country to get something that's more different. I also don't like that California pushes fake meat so hard. Portion sizes are bigger in California though. I don't really get alcohol so I can't comment too much on that.

Lunch to mid afternoon on weekends can be really crazy in California. Not sure if it's my familiarity with the park but I find that it's not too difficult to find seating in California Adventure after buying food. I've had good luck with seating at Sonoma Terrace which is close to some of the booths.

 

[gottalovepluto]

To me they’re completely different festivals. CA is just over 1/3 the size of EP F&W I’d estimate. The food is all about CA cuisine, not country cuisine. CA is easier to enjoy as it does not require as much planning and is not nearly as spread out. I can meander around day of and decide what I want in CA. In EP if I don’t go in with a plan I eat way too much too fast!

I don’t prefer one over the other. If you like EP F&W, I’d recommend checking out the CA version (unless you have an aversion to Mexican, Asian and Vegan food… We had a poster earlier this year who didn’t like any of that food and asked where the meat and potatoes were- if that’s you probably better to forget this festival ).

CA has a few winemaker dinners and weekend spirit/wine/beer seminars available for booking this year so they have EP beat in that aspect as that stuff hasn’t been seen since ‘19 back East.

 

[gottalovepluto]

... You can order and pay for ANY food/drink item from ANY booth and then take the receipt around the different booths to pick up your food, rather than having to stand in line to order and pay at each individual booth. So, make a list of what you want, find the shortest line and buy everything, then pick up items at your leisure throughout the day…

I forgot about that part! That part was definitely awesome!