Our Trip to Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival 2020 – Part 1

It’s time once again for the Food and Wine Festival at Disney California Adventure. With food, wine, and fun, join us as we break down all the festival has to offer!

One of our favorite times of year at the Disneyland Resort is the Food and Wine Festival at Disney California Adventure. Boasting over 13 food locations, entertainment offerings, tasting seminars, and plenty of Disney branded merchandise, Food and Wine Festival has something for everyone. With so much going on, it can be a little overwhelming, especially when it comes to the food … and the wine. And not only can you get wine, but there’s tons of beer and cocktail options as well. The festival runs from February 28th to April 21st, so if you are an annual passholder, there’s ample time to take advantage of everything Food and Wine has to offer.

Here’s Part 1 of our guide to help you through this year’s event.

The Marketplace

The Marketplace has 13 food and drink booths with gluten-free, kid-friendly, plant-based, and vegetarian items. Some of the booths we visited on this trip include: Uncorked California, Golden Dreams, California Craft Brews, Off the Cob, and Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo. You can purchase a Sip and Savor Pass ($56 for the general public, $51 for annual passholders) which includes 8 coupons to use at the Festival booths on any food or beverage option, excluding alcohol and a few other offerings. The coupons work best when you use them on anything $6.50 or higher for annual passholders, $7 or higher for the general public. You can find the Sip and Savor pass in many locations such as the Festival Welcome Center, or the Festival Gifts and Festival Merchandise Carts. You can also find festival food and drink offerings at the Paradise Garden Grill and Paradise Beer Garden. Don’t forget to pick up a Food and Wine Tasting Passport and the Festival Guide!

The Food

Here are some of the Food and Drink items we tried on this trip:

Golden Dreams: Brunch Fried Chicken & Waffle Sandwich with Mimosa-inspired Slaw and OJ Bubbles, and the Strawberry-Rose Lemonade with Strawberry, Rose, Pure Amber honey and Fresh Lemon Juice (Non-alcoholic)

For the Chicken & Waffle Sandwich, the slaw was refreshing and the OJ Bubbles added a pop of flavor. The Chicken was a little chewy and consisted of dark meat, but overall the taste was amazing. The Strawberry-Rose Lemonade was thirst-quenching, especially for a warm day, and had just the right amount of sweetness.

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Uncork California: Road Trip Mimosa Trio

· Pacific Mimosa – Sparkling Wine, Coconut, Blue Curaçao, and Pineapple Juice

· Mojave Mimosa – Sparkling Wine, Simply Peachâ, and Raspberry Syrup

· Sierra Mimosa – Sparkling Wine, Lavender, and Fresh Lemon Juice

Overall the mimosas were refreshing and light with flavors that complemented each other. Chris’s favorite was the Mojave, it was fruity and tasty. Michelle enjoyed the Pacific, which was sweet and topical.

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California Craft Brews: Pepperoni Pizza Egg Rolls with Mozzarella Cheese, garnished with Parmesan Parsley and Red Pepper Flakes, served with Marinara Pesto Sauce

The Pepperoni Pizza Egg Rolls were one of our favorite items from last year’s festival, and we were so happy to see their return. You really can’t go wrong with pizza-flavored anything, and these hit the spot if you need a snack between drinks.

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Off the Cob: Mini Chicken Chimis with Chimichurri Corn Pico de Gallo and Chipotle Crema, and Mickey-shaped Caramel-Peanut Milk Chocolate Macaron

The Mini Chicken Chimis were the right amount of hot, a little spicy but not too overpowering. The Corn Pico de Gallo was a perfect pairing and the Chipotle Crema was a refreshing touch. The Chocolate Macaron had to be one of our favorite things out of this festival. Not only was it adorable, but absolutely delicious. The inside tasted like a Snickers bar!

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Cluck-A-Doodle-Moo: French Onion Grilled Beef Tenderloin Slider topped with Gruyere Cheese Sauce and Caramelized Onions on an Onion Roll, and the Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch, a Milk Chocolate Mousse filled with Hazelnut Ganache and Hazelnut Pieces

The beef on the French Onion Tenderloin slider was surprisingly high quality considering it came from a festival booth. It went together amazingly with the Gruyere Cheese, which was perfectly melted and creamy, adding so much flavor to the sandwich. The Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch was like a giant Ferrero Rocher chocolate in the best way. The inside was heavenly, filled with rich ganache that was also light and smooth.

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The Merchandise

The Festival also extends to shopping locations at the Studio Store in Hollywood Land, Festival carts near Golden Vine Winery, Elias & Co and Festival Gifts and Artist Corner on the Performance Corridor (near the Voyage of the Little Mermaid). Some of the merchandise includes the wildly popular Minnie Ears and Spirit Jerseys, along with T-Shirts, Pins, and Glassware. The slogans for this year’s festival found on the shirts, glassware, and spirit jerseys is “Life is too Short … Eat”, “Have a Grape Day”, and “You Make my Heart Beet.” All insanely cute and an added bonus to any Disney fan’s collection.

With everything this festival has to offer, we cannot possibly experience it all in one day.

Stay tuned for Part Two!

Our Journey to Rise of the Resistance

It was Saturday, February 15th and we decided to travel to the Disneyland Resort, and then on to a galaxy far, far away to ride Disney's most ambitious experience to date. Will we be successful? Will we survive? Will we help the Resistance and their fight against the First Order? To find out, come with us on our journey ...

Some backstory: Currently (as of winter/spring 2020), in order to ride Rise of the Resistance at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in either Disneyland or Disney's Hollywood Studios, one must obtain a "Boarding Group". To do this, you must be in said park BEFORE opening to log on to the Disneyland or My Disney Experience app on your smartphone. You will then race against the clock and tap or refresh until the "Join Boarding Group" button is a lovely shade of orange.

This will not happen until the park opens. So basically, every morning a lot of anxious people stand around Main Street staring at their phones, counting down the minutes with their fingers ready. And once that button is no longer orange, that means all the boarding groups have been distributed for the day. This is all a lottery too: if the park opens at 8am, someone who enters when the gates open at 7:30am will have the same chance of getting a boarding group as someone who entered the park at 7:58am. It's all a game of chance, luck and hopefully some Disney magic.

Once you get a boarding group, you will be in a virtual queue of sorts, waiting for a notification that your group has been called. The time you get on the ride all depends on what group number you get, how many groups they can call per hour, and if/how long the ride goes down on any given day. And there's a cutoff too! Depending on the operating hours of the park and any special events, only a certain number of groups are guaranteed to experience the ride. Typically that limit is around group 83, anything after that puts you in a "Backup Boarding Group" and you are not guaranteed to ride. (Technically, Disney says no one is guaranteed admission to Rise of the Resistance but they try to accommodate as many as they can.)

So, that's a little background on how you get to experience this new ... experience. Here is the timeline of our day trying to get a boarding group and on to the ride for the first time:

5am – Wake Up

Michelle is not a morning person so getting up at 5am on Saturday is ... rough.

5:45am – Leave House

We live about 45 minutes from Disneyland with no traffic. We're aiming to be at the Mickey and Friends parking garage by 6:30am and on this morning we had to stop for gas.

6:45am – At Parking Garage

After waiting in traffic on Ball Rd (Anaheim peeps know what's up) to turn into the parking garage, we finally made it inside. Now we're in a slow crawl to the booth where you pay.

7:35am – Parked and at Bag Check

We finally parked and made it down to the security line. They checked our bags, we walked through the metal detectors, and then waited for a tram to take us to the main entrance.

7:50am – At the Main Gate

Made it to the Esplanade (the space between Disneyland and California Adventure's main gates). The end of the line we got in was more then halfway down the Esplanade, past the Monorail track.

8am - Park Opens

We still haven't made it to the main gate and therefore could not yet try to get a boarding group. But the "Join Boarding Group" button is still orange. Time is not on our side.

8:06am – In the Park

We finally made it in! And the boarding groups are still being distributed! But Michelle’s phone/app isn’t refreshing. Chris gets group 145 ... a backup boarding group. :sad face:

8:30am – Breakfast

We decided to take our chances and see how the day plays out, after all we got a boarding group at least. Most days, they only make it to group 120-ish, but rumor is that the day before it was in the 150s. There's hope! As we are getting breakfast, they start calling the first groups, a good sign!

9:47am - A New Bar!

The bar on our status moves, two bars! And a porg!

10am – First Down Time

At Group 38, the ride breaks down for the first time. They are stalled calling groups. The longer each downtime takes, the fewer groups they can accommodate that day. We wait and see.

10:45am – The Ride is Back Up!

They start calling boarding groups again!

11:30am – Leave Park

Disney is extremely crowded since, in our infinite wisdom, we picked President's Day weekend to try this. We decide to leave the park, take a 40 min drive north to Glendora and try the Donut Man. (Check out our review here)

1pm – At Donut Man

While waiting in line for donuts, we keep checking the status of the boarding groups and the numbers keep getting higher! Could we be getting on? We are getting optimistic. We were also on a sugar high from the donuts.

2pm – Group 90 is Called

And new bar on our status! Hope is rising! (Like the Resistance)

3pm – Back to Disney

We head back to Disney! We could be called in a couple of hours!

3:40pm – Ride Down

Back at the park we notice the ride goes down for the 2nd time of the day. It's getting late in the day and we start to worry.

4:00pm – Eating at Hungry Bear

While at the Hungry Bear (the restaurant outside of Galaxy's Edge) we are constantly checking the status of the boarding groups, hoping more groups are called soon.

4:40pm – Back Up!

And our status bar moves again!

5pm – Ride Down, Again.

Stops at group 113

5:45pm – Ride is Up!

A rollercoaster of emotions is happening.

6:40pm – Group 128

We speak to a Batuu resident (Cast Member) on the likelihood of us getting to be recruited by the Resistance that evening. They inform us that unfortunately due to nightly maintenance, the ride will only be operating for the next couple of hours even through the park closes at midnight. But they will try to get to as many boarding groups as they can. They also let us know we would most likely get a notification from the Disneyland app if they won't be able to call our boarding group. We have not received such notice, so we have hope.

7:15pm – On Group 135

And ride goes down for the 4th time and we find out that if the ride comes back up soon, the last group called will be 147. We're group 145. We might barely make it, but the more time the ride is down, the lower the cutoff number gets.

8:45pm – Ride is Back Up!

8:50pm – Group 140 Called

8:52pm – Group 143 Called

8:56pm – Group 145 is Called!

We did it!

BUT

9pm – Ride Goes Down for the 5th Time

While they move us into the stand-by line, the news is that the ride has broken down yet again. They don't know when it will come back up or if we would be riding that evening. We are waiting in the cold Batuuian air, hoping against hope that the Disney Gods take pity on our poor, unfortunate souls. We watch the fireworks through the woods of Black Spire Outpost. We get to know the people in line next to us, enduring the wait. The line ends up moving only inches as people give up and leave, deciding not to wait through the night. We stay, we are determined to see this through, whatever the outcome. We have come all this way. Then at 9:50pm, a Cast Member tells us there's no good or bad news, but hopefully the ride with be up soon. If the line starts moving before he comes back, we are good to go! And before he comes back ...

10:15pm – The ... Line ... Starts ... Moving!

And the line keeps moving! 10:40pm – Pre-Show!

We make it to the room with Rey and BB-8 and our experience starts.

11pm – Finish Ride!

Michelle laugh-cries, Chris is in shock.

Weeks later, still not recovered. We are not going to give you a breakdown of the ride because it's something you need to experience for yourself, but if you really want to know, there are some great ride-throughs on Youtube. We are thankful for the people we met along the way, the cast members who were patient with our questions, and the fact we never gave up. Like watching Star Wars itself, our journey to Rise of the Resistance was filled with moments of joy and of despair, of sadness and of hope. And on Saturday, February 15th, in a galaxy far, far away ... the Force was truly with us.

Spicy Sausage Jambalaya

Bon Temps! This fast and tasty Jambalaya recipe will keep you warm while celebrating Mardi Gras. Happy Fat Tuesday!

Serving: 2 to 4

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 30-35 mins

What you will need:

- Jambalaya Rice Mix

- 3 Peppers (Red, Green and Yellow)

- Small Onion

- Ground Hot Italian Sausage (or your choice of meat)

- Cajun or Creole Seasoning

- Fresh Cilantro or Parsley

Bring 2 ½ cups of water to a boil. Add Rice to pot and simmer for 25 mins, stirring occasionally.

Cut peppers in half and remove centers, then cut pepper piece in half and chop into slices.

In a large pan, cook peppers for 5 mins on medium high heat with olive oil, adding salt and pepper.

Add meat to the peppers and cook for 10 mins or until meat is browned.

Cut onion. Note: Use a small onion or half of a large onion.

Add the chopped onion to the meat and peppers and cook for 2 mins.

Add ½ tablespoons of the seasoning and cook on medium heat for 5 mins.

Chop the fresh herbs.

Add the finished rice to meat and vegetables with ¼ cup of water. Let dish simmer for 2 mins.

Serve with fresh Cilantro or Parsley.

Enjoy!