Christmas at Disney California Adventure: 2019 Recap
Disney California Adventure, Anaheim, CA
Light up the fireplace and pop in the chestnuts! The holiday season is in full swing all around town, and most definitely at the Disneyland Resort, where the winter season has filled the park air for the past several weeks. Today, we’re stopping by Disney California Adventure to tour their Christmas time festivities and see what’s new this year. By now, several years into their current format, most of what is offered at DCA is a repeat of past years. But that doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. From the return of the Festival of Holidays to all the lovely decorations throughout almost the entire park to the diversity incorporated into the entertainment line-up, California Adventure offers arguably a more immersive and fulfilling holiday experience than even Disneyland. Lets check out the scene this season…
The holidays have returned to California Adventure!
Festival of Holidays Food
November and December at DCA mean another round of gourmet eats, as the Festival of Holidays returns to the main boulevard stretching from Paradise Park all the way down toward Carthay Circle. This is the wintertime Food and Wine Festival, and though not as large, it still offers a good amount of food and beverage tastings with dishes crafted for the season.
This year once again features a mix of new and returning food items, with savory plates ranging in the $6.00 - $8.50 range and sweets a couple dollars less. Also returning is the Sip and Savor Pass, which offers eight food tickets redeemable at any of the Festival of Holiday booths and at many park restaurants, where tasting sized versions of seasonal dishes are available. For Annual Passholders, the price is $51 for the pass (up from $49 for the Food and Wine Festival earlier this year). For everyone else’s, it’s $5 more, at $56. For value hunters, that means each tab is worth using on dishes pricier than $6.38 each (so basically $6.50 or more) for Annual Passholders, and $7.00 or greater for non-AP holders. It’s not allowed on alcoholic beverages, though, so this mainly limits the worth to savory dishes and a few select drinks. The Sip and Savor Pass can be purchased from several booths along the Festival of Holidays row and is a great deal for guests seeking to maximize their purchasing power, or for returning guests. Guests can use the pass across multiple trips to the park until they run out of tabs.
Also back this year (and more advertised) is the ability to order food from multiple Festival of Holidays Marketplace booths from a single cashier point. Anybody can take advantage of this feature. Just order, pay, and present the receipt at each booth for each item(s). The only risk is that a booth may have run out of a dish between the time it was ordered and the time it was picked up, but it’s extremely helpful in beating the lines to pay!
As far as this year’s dishes, our favorites were the:
Reimagined Beef Wellington from A Twist on Tradition Marketplace
Shepherd’s Upside-Down Pie from Grandma’s Recipes Marketplace
Braised Pork Belly Adobo from Holiday Duets Marketplace
Glazed Ham Shanks from Favorite Things Marketplace
Pork al Pastor Naan Taco from Merry Mashups Marketplace
We tried these and other items as we feasted our way through the Festival this past weekend…
More Holiday Food
The Festival of Holidays is not the sole arbiter of seasonal culinary offerings. Throughout California Adventure (and Disneyland too), multiple restaurants offer multiple seasonal items. They’re detailed in a Food Guide that guests can obtain, and the dishes range from a lot of sweets to several full sized savory meals as well. We didn’t try any of the meal portions, but we did indulge our dessert tooth and try some of the confectionary offerings. Disney has definitely hit upon a successful formula to get more people to dine in the parks with these limited time food items!
This is just a small portion of what’s offered, of course. For more comprehensive coverage, check out the fooding our friends at the Disney Food Blog did at the Disneyland Resort this holiday season!
Festival & Holiday Merchandise
Of course, it’s not a seasonal event at Disney without merchandise to hawk, and there is plenty of that at the Festival of Holidays and throughout the park. Seasonal merch—both new for this year and returning favorites—can be purchased in plenty of locations, from the stalls along the Festival of Holidays Marketplaces to the regular brick-and-mortar shops in the parks. There’s plenty of fun memorability to pick up for yourself and/or loved ones.
Also, if you’re a collector of Starbucks themed cups, there are new ones for Disneyland and California Adventure currently on sale. They’re pretty cute!
Holiday Entertainment
Of course, the Festival of Holidays really shines in the show department, where countless live performances play out throughout the day and into the evening. We caught the percussion heavy and very energetic Holiday Toy Drummers and soulful R&B vocalists The Sound on our visit, but there’s also the eclectic Jewish jazz/Latin/rock band, Mostly Kosher, and the fan favorite Mariachi Divas, plus the rhythmic beats of the Blue 13 Dance Company. Phat Cat Swinger lays on those swinging big band beats, and The Suffragettes provide rocking cover songs of popular radio hits.
In addition, ¡Viva Navidad! brings a spirited Latin-based celebration of the holiday season, highlighted by the ¡Viva Navidad! Street Party, hosted by the Three Caballeros. At night, the sentimental romance of the Christmas season is beautifully conveyed in World of Color: Season of Light, returning for yet another year. It’s an amazing holiday show to cap off the day at California Adventure.
Redwood Creek: Santa’s Holiday Visit
Beyond the Festival of Holidays, Santa’s Holiday Visit returns to the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. The Christmas overlay features various activities, plus a meet-and-greet with Santa himself. It’s a fun little feature for the family and is open during the daytime hours of the trail, and it’s all accessible from Grizzly Peak!
And of course, with Christmas around the corner, an impressively large portion of Disney California Adventure is dressed for the season. When you compare the amount of the park decked out for the holidays, it’s actually one of the most encompassing of all the Disney parks. Disneyland has Main Street, New Orleans Square, Mickey’s Toontown, Critter Country, and parts of Fantasyland, Frontierland, and Adventureland decked out, but Tomorrowland and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge have no seasonal overlay. And in the international parks, most themed lands have even less.
Christmas on Buena Vista Street
Buena Vista Street kicks it back to vintage Christmas of the 1920s and 30s and 40s, with big, colorful Christmas lights and silvery tinsel and an old fashioned charm. The towering Christmas tree can be found behind the Storytellers Statue, and Carthay Circle Restaurant is adorned simply with a massive wreath.
The monumental Christmas tree on Buena Vista Street stands right across from Carthay Circle Restaurant.
Christmas in Hollywood Land
Hollywood Land continues a similar aesthetic to Buena Vista Street. However, here, the glitz and glamor take over a little more, with more tinsel in Tinseltown and a heavier visualization of Jolly Old St. Nick. It would actually be pretty neat if they could add garland over the street to enhance the ambiance further, but the Red Car Trolley lines probably complicate this a little bit.
Hollywood Land is bright and colorful!
Christmas in Grizzly Peak
Grizzly Peak brings a combination of a more classic and rustic holiday setting and a slightly silly one. The lights in the trees bath the area in cozy Christmas warmth, but the dressed up bear sculptures are delightful—especially the giant grizzly bear of Grizzly River Run in his massive and illuminated ugly Christmas sweater. It’s a playfully peaceful environment here.
Grizzly Peak evokes a cozy Christmas spirit.
Christmas in Paradise Park
Paradise Park has the Festival of Holidays and ¡Viva Navidad! to enhance the atmosphere. The land ranges from toy soldier elegance to colorful Latin flair, and it’s pretty beautiful and vibrant at night too. I still miss the massive Christmas tree that used to be behind the bridge over to Paradise (now Pixar) Pier, next to the former Cove Bar. Pixar Pier doesn’t really have Christmas decoration this year either—the only themed land that lacks holiday cheer.
¡Viva Navidad! is one of several Paradise Park Christmas features.
Christmas in Pacific Wharf
Pacific Wharf brings a more serene holiday mood, with cute, colorful, floating “Christmas tree” buoys in the water and colorful lights around the food court area. There’s nothing too fancy here, but a clever nautical motif adds some Christmas interest.
The Christmas buoys are so serene in the nighttime water.
Christmas in Cars Land
And finally, Carsmas once again has taken over Radiator Springs, as the various tenants have transformed themselves into a visual pun filled holiday treat. Christmas trees exist in numerous forms throughout Cars Land, while automotive imagery has been tiled together to create witty representations of Christmas elements. Even Mater has special holiday jingles for his Jamboree, and the whole area is just a joy to stroll through.
Cars Land’s “Carsmas” is an absolute treasure for the season.
That does it for DCA during this holiday season. By now, a lot of this will be familiar to people reading from past years or who have visited the Happiest Resort on Earth the past several seasons. But the holiday vibe is still lovely to experience, and DCA really shines in the depth of offerings the park has for fans of all aspects of the season—from dining to entertainment to all the whimsical and creative decorations. California Adventure may be the second tier park compared to Disneyland normally, but during the holidays, I think it offers the first rate Christmas menu!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
