• Home
  • About Us
  • Work With Us
  • Social Media News
  • Privacy & Terms
  • Thunderbolt Social Media
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Dangerous Cupcake Lifestyle

  • Entertainment
  • Travel
  • Food & Wine
    • Wine
    • Cupcakes
  • Disney & Marvel
    • Disney
    • Marvel
  • Crafts, Cars & Cool Things
    • Crafts
    • Cars
    • Dogs
    • Cool Things
    • Technology
  • Home & Life
You are here: Home / Disney / Disney Festival of Holidays at California Adventure in SoCal

Disney Festival of Holidays at California Adventure in SoCal

December 17, 2017 By Donna Biroczky Leave a Comment

Tweet
Share1
Pin1
2 Shares

As an annual passholder, I fit in several trips to the parks before my current pass is blocked for the last two weeks of the year. (Bummer, but I have done zero Christmas shopping or baking so now I have less distraction and more inspiration after all the holiday ideas I saw at the parks!) The last two visits, we decided to purchase Sip and Savor passes, giving me and the husband the chance to eat our way through Disney California Adventure, trying all the special holiday-inspired treats. What fun it was!

The Disney Festival of Holidays takes place in Disney’s California Adventure through January 7, 2018. For $45, and available only to annual passholders, each Sip and Savor Pass gives you eight tear-off tickets to use on your choice of tastings throughout 11 kiosks. You can purchase it in AP Corner and with the pass, you get a commemorative lanyard and a special collectible metal pin at each of the kiosks from which you try food. You can end up with a really cool collection of one of a kind pins — unless you’re like me, and you return to the same booth a second time. (That pork belly though!) Keep in mind that you can’t use the Sip and Savor Pass on beverages that contain alcohol; the beverages are a little pricey but every single one we tried was worth it. More on that later.

disney festival of holidays

Disney during the holidays is a spectacular event. As usual, Disney spares no details in creating an extraordinary display of holiday beauty in all places. Look up, down and all around — in each direction, the holiday spirit is present. Add in a MaxPass for photos and you can commemorate your visit for only $10 per day or add it to your annual pass for $75. (I have it on mypass but the husband just pays $10 per day if we go on days where the parks are more crowded, so we can use the FastPass option on the Disney app on our phones.)

disney festival of holidays

Joy to the whirl! Cars Land is as decorated as it could be, from wreaths above to Christmas trees made out of license plates. Once it gets dark, it becomes a whole new vision that you have to see to believe. Wherever you go during the day, see it again at night and enjoy it all over again! The Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland is the most photographed place in the parks and you can’t beat its sparkle-covered exterior during one of the evening shows. (Be sure to check the daily schedule and get to the castle before the time to ensure a good viewing spot.)

But back to the Disney Festival of Holidays. Be sure to pick up a Tasting Passport when you purchase your Sip and Savor Pass. You’ll need to refer to it to see which kiosk offers what foods/drinks and it also includes a map. You don’t need the pass to purchase foods, but it will save you money if you plan on eating at least eight tastings.

My favorite tasting was the Cookie Butter Cheesecake & Jelly Tarts, available at Kiosk #6, Holiday Duets. The two tarts are big enough for a dessert for one, but we shared. The cookie butter flavor is strong in the cheesecake and the crust and was delicious with the light layer of jam underneath the cheesecake filling.

disney festival of holidays

My favorite savory food was the Braised Pork Belly on top of Garlic Fried Rice, available at Kiosk #8, Blissfully Braised. The crispy pork rinds add a new texture that was a surprise and the scallions add a little tang. The first time I bought the pass, I ate the pork belly and an order of the above tarts and was actually full so space your foods out.

disney festival of holidays

The husband got this Seared Salmon Filet with Lemon Caper Sauce over at Kiosk #3, Joy to the Sauce. (I love the touch of sass in the kiosk names!) It was another filling food with good flavor. I didn’t try it, I was still eating my pork belly but he enjoyed the moist salmon and the texture of the potatoes.

Disney Festival of Holidays

Because we’re gluttons for punishment — aka being too full — we tried one more savory dish, the Warm Polenta with Chilled Crab Salad at Kiosk #6, Holiday Duets. Turns out I’m not a fan of the combination of hot and cold together in this manner, but the crab salad had good flavor and I absolutely loved the polenta. We had this towards the end of the day, as the temperatures were dropping, and the warmth of the polenta was comforting.

polenta

One of the Bourbon Ciders with a Bourbon Marshmallow (available at Grandma’s Recipes, Kiosk #11) would have been perfect just then, but I had already tried it the week prior and I’d enjoyed this Pomegranate Martini with Chipotle-smoked Sea Salt. It’s on the big side, which is not a complaint, and is very refreshing and tangy. The sea salt’s smokey taste really adds to the drink. This is a must-try.

Disney Festival of Holidays

Capping off the day was this Cranberry Pear Tart with Rosemary-infused Cream. Not overly sweet, it’s a departure from the other treats we’d tried because it’s got a slightly savory component, more like an appetizer and not a dessert. I could order this one a few more times!

Disney Festival of Holidays

If you can, get down to the Disney Festival of Holidays and enjoy the festivities. From all of us here at Dangerous Cupcake Lifestyle (and It’s a Small World), we wish you happy holidays!

happy holidays from disney

Tweet
Share1
Pin1
2 Shares

Filed Under: Disney Tagged With: christmas, disneyland, holiday

Previous Post: « Connect Hearts with Chappet: Bring Life to a Favorite Stuffed Toy
Next Post: Project 2018: Positive Changes for a New Year That We Can All Do »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

dangerous cupcake lifestyle club 33 profile
I’m Donna, and I’m not a mommy blogger.
I’m a Marvel geek and creator of Dangerous Cupcake, a Southern California lifestyle blog dedicated to life after the kids grow up. As my four kids enter different stages of their lives, I get to do the same, having fun, loving Disney, watching Marvel, and not letting my age define anything. Phase 2 of life is pretty amazing, and midlife isn’t a bad word. Join me in changing focus and enjoying life during our next adventure, without totally starting over. However you do it, life is short, live a little dangerously.
Donna@DangerousCupcakeLifestyle.com

We are an Amazon affiliate, which means some Amazon links you click may be our affiliate links. In that case, we may make some money IF you purchase using those links or other affiliate links.
We appreciate you!

STUFF WE WRITE ABOUT

Footer

Follow on Instagram
Life is short, so it should never be boring. Dangerous Cupcake Lifestyle is all about enjoying life, specifically midlife, finding yourself after your kids grow up and above all, keeping it real. Live dangerously. We'd love to hear from you -- let's work together!

Copyright © 2023 Dangerous Cupcake and Thunderbolt Social Media

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT