An Overview of the Six Pixar-Themed Marketplaces at Pixar Fest

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When Disney released details of what to expect during Pixar Fest in 2024, one of the offerings mentioned were several Pixar-themed marketplaces in the Hollywood Backlot area. If you’ve ever attended a Food and Wine Festival or Lunar New Year, you’d know exactly what those “marketplaces” are.

If you don’t know, they’re essentially themed food booths with certain elements having to do with whichever festival is taking place. For example, during Food and Wine, one of the marketplaces was called “Garlic Kissed” and featured food items related to - you guessed it - garlic.

They’ve proven to be insanely popular, so it only made sense for Disney to theme after some of Pixar’s most beloved films and use them to elevate the offerings during Pixar Fest.

In this post, we’re going to take a look at the names of these marketplaces, which film they’re themed after, and images and descriptions of what each one is going to offer. Unfortunately, I can confirm that there will not be a Sip and Savor Pass for sale during this event.

While Pixar Fest begins April 26, the marketplaces below won’t be available until May 10

1) “The Spark” - Inspired by Soul

Inspired by Pixar’s hit film Soul, “The Spark” will offer several brand new food and cocktail offerings, in addition to an exhaustive amount of beers and seltzers. The booth’s sole entree offering is the Supper Club Chicken & Potato Waffles with peach cobbler sauce and cinnamon-herb crumble. For dessert is the Half Note Jazz Cake which, by the website’s own admission, is essentially a basic red velvet cake.

The Great Beyond, one of two crafted cocktails at this booth, is made with gin, maraschino liquor, violet & blue curacoa syrups, lemon juice and pear nectar. The second cocktail, SPARK-ler, seems like it’ll be on the sweeter side with a concoction of varying syrups including mango, pineapple and cotton candy.

2) 4Town Fav*4*ites - Inspired by “Turning Red”

The Turning Red marketplace is the one I’m most looking forward to, as all of the offerings look stellar! First, the Red Panda Bao is a jumbo bao stuffed with vegetables, pork and a chili-garlic sauce. The word “jumbo” in the description indicates a single bao per purchase, though a sizable one.

You can follow this up with the Panda Apocalypse, a pan-baked, chocolate-layered brownie and New York-style cheesecake topped with orange and red cream cheese frosting. Finally, wash it all down with the Nobody Like U Cooler, a non-alcoholic beverage made with Joffrey’s Raspberry Rose Tea, white cranberry, lime & orange juices and cherry syrup, garnished with an orange wedge gummy.

3) Gusteau’s To-Go inspired by “Ratatouille”

It would’ve been criminal for Disney to feature Pixar-themed marketplaces at Pixar Fest and not include the most food-relatable IP in their portfolio. After all, Ratatouille’s entire premise was centered around a rat who loved to cook.

Gusteau’s To-Go’s criminally small menu consists of the Ratatouille Pizzetta topped with mozzarella, eggplant, squash, zucchini, a drizzle of tomato sauce, and a wedge of French camembert. The only other food offering is a macaron themed after Chef Gusteau, with creme brulee mousse and a caramel center.

The two alcoholic offerings, the Le Critique Cognac Sidecar and Little French Daiquiri, make up the only drinks on the menu, with no non-alcoholic options.

4) Portorosso Pasta inspired by “Luca”

Representing Italy, the Luca booth features only one food offering, but may be the most interesting of the bunch that has the potential to “steal the show”. It’s the Portorosso Pesto Pasta, Portorosso being the fictional Italian town where the movie is based. The dish is ribbon pasta tossed in a basil pesto with potatoes and green beans mixed in.

The non-alcoholic Sea Monster Lemonade consists of white grape juice, lemonade and peach syrup garnished with blue citrus mango jellies. Rounding out the drink offerings, the adults-only Silenzio Limoncello! has a Limoncello base with amaretto & Aperol liquors, blood orange syrup, lemonade and house-made oregano tea and garnished with micro daises.

5) Hanger Management inspired by “Inside Out” 

The Hanger Management marketplace offers a simple menu consisting of two variations of a basic macaroni and cheese dish. One of which is traditional yellow mac topped with a handful of Cheeto puffs and the other being the “angry” version topped with hot Cheetos. In all honesty, this is quite disappointing and uninspiring as it looks to be nothing more than boxed mac and cheese.

The cocktail appears to be a variation of a Maker’s Mule. It’ll have a bourbon base with watermelon liquor, candied orange & watermelon syrups, and orange & lime juices topped with ginger beer and garnished with watermelon candies.

I feel Disney dropped the ball here (the food, specifically). The food offerings are about as basic as it gets without any real creativity added whatsoever. Considering all of the mood elements featured in Inside Out, this marketplace could’ve been the stand-out with multiple incredibly creative dishes.

6) Elemental Table inspired by “Elemental”

If you’re looking for plant-based options, the Elemental marketplace is for you. Food offerings include a BBQ-spiced IMPOSSIBLE chicken dish with hot mustard sauce, pickles and charred onions, followed by the Kol Nut Whoopie Cookie Pie baked with cocoa powder and filled with cream cheese frosting and topped with crushed cinnamon candies.

The drink offerings, both of which are tequila-based, are visually stunning and will undoubtedly be popular. First is the H2O-rita made with tequila, blue curaçao syrup, lychee nectar, yuja purée and lime juice garnished with a rock candy stick. Lastly, the Exothermic Margarita consists of tequila, ancho chile liqueur, passion fruit nectar, lime & grapefruit juices and agave nectar garnished with a rock candy stick.

While there are some disappointments on the menus of the marketplaces (Hanger Management, specifically), overall, I’m looking forward to sampling the majority of them.

Of the all the cocktail offerings, the two at the Elemental marketplace are sure to be the clear stand-outs as they’re the most Insta-worthy of the bunch. As it pertains to food, I’m most looking forward to the jumbo bao at the Turning Red marketplace and the pesto pasta dish at Luca’s.

I’m going to reiterate my stance on what I believe is an epic let-down at the Hanger Management marketplace. I wish Disney would have gone the BBQ route here, offering a creative version of the classic pulled-pork sandwich with several emotions represented in different variations, or something similar.

Despite this, I’m predicting Pixar Fest will be a massive success. More and more, guests are clamoring for more “non-standard” Disney. Usually, that comes in the form of an After Dark event where in order to partake, you’d have to pay for another ticket.

Special events like Pixar Fest and Season of the Force, however, are available to all guests who hold a regular ticket or Magic Key, making it accessible for everyone to enjoy. With Pixar Fest looking like an un-official “foodie festival”, I hope to see it become a part of DCA’s annual line up of festivals. Time will tell.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If so, be sure to stay on top of ride closures by reading (and saving) my 2024 Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar. To see all the activities taking place at Pixar Fest, read Pixar Fest 2024: 10 Things to Know. Additionally, to see the newly transformed Pixar Place Hotel, read my Tour of the Pixar Place Hotel post. Lastly, for deals on Disneyland tickets and vacation packages, see my friends at Get Away Today.

New Downtown Disney Restaurants Opening Soon (+ More Announced)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

It’s time to ready your stomachs because two new, highly anticipated restaurants are opening soon in the Downtown Disney District! Additionally, we now have word of what’s coming to the location formally occupied by Tortilla Jo’s, which has recently permanently closed.

The two upcoming restaurants (well four, technically) I’m referring to are Din Tai Fung, Paseo, Centrico and Tiendita. These eateries were announced during the parks panel presentation during the loathed 2022 D23 expo and while progress has been slow, we’re now just a month or so away from these culinary delights making their debuts.

Let’s dive into the details of these restaurants and what we know about what’s taking over Tortilla Jo’s spot. Additionally, we’ll discuss the status of a few other eateries that have been confirmed, but haven’t yet began construction.

Paseo, Centrico, and Tiendita in Downtown Disney

As recently announced by Disney Parks Blog, this three-in-one eatery will open to guests in May. No specific date was given but considering that Mother’s Day is a massively profitable weekend for restaurants, I would imagine they would push to be open by then.

These concept restaurants are being brought to the Disneyland Resort by Mexico’s first Michelin-starred Chef Carlos Gaytan. His dishes inspire a multi-cultural journey to his homeland of Huitzuco, Mexico, with style and technique from his culinary training in France.

I took the photo above in March and as you can see, much of the infrastructure of Centrico and most parts of Paseo are already done. Since this photo, they’ve begun installing tables and decorative features, indicating that an opening date is imminent.

In Paseo, a stunning wooden staircase leads you upstairs to the main dining room and bar lined with rich tiles, woods, textures, leathers and accents that showcase Mexico’s proud culture of craftsmanship. In addition to the main dining room, there will be an extended patio offering a unique view of Downtown Disney.

A full menu hasn’t been released yet, but a few examples you can expect include elevated versions of ceviches, roasted marinated pork, lamb barbacoa and mejillones (mussels). These dishes, and more, celebrate Chef Graytan’s love of his homeland, with nods to the French culinary style.

The courtyard bar and restaurant, Centrico, will occupy the space of the former Uva Bar in the center of the walking space through Downtown Disney. Its open, airy space designed with lush greenery and wooden elements create an upscale, yet relaxing environment for guests.

Again, we haven’t seen a full menu, but elevated quesabirria, chicken enchiladas, tlayuda (an Oaxacan, pizza-like sharable), Caesar salad and an assortment of tequila-based cocktails make up a few of the featured items.

Tiendita, the third and final element to this new concept, will serve as the quick-service location, with a variety of selections such as fish tacos, roasted corn, ice cream-stuffed chocolate tacos (you read that right) and breakfast favorites such as a chorizo burrito will be served.

This is great as the resort, Downtown Disney specifically, is severely lacking in the breakfast department. It’ll be great to have an option in the morning (and a quick one, at that) for a pre-park meal. Furthermore, Tiendita will feature self-ordering kiosks instead of traditional cashiers.

Din Tai Fung and More Upcoming Downtown Disney Restaurants

The next restaurant we’ve finally received an update on, and the one I’m personally looking forward to the most, is Din Tai Fung. Much like Paseo and Centrico, we don’t have a firm opening date yet, but Disney is advertising a summer 2024 opening.

Din Tai Fung is another Michelin-level restaurant coming to the resort, with the brand being based out of Taiwan. They’re known for the house-made baos, but also feature signiture soup dumplings, wontons, noodles, steamed buns, pork chop fried rice and a variety signature, crafted cocktails.

Furthermore, we now know the highly anticipated Ponto’s Bakery will move into the space currently occupied by Earl of Sandwich, in the building adjacent to the entrance to Disney California Adventure. Earl of Sandwich is in the process of moving into a temporary location near the Star Wars Store to accommodate this move.

Presumably, the current building will be demolished to allow Ponto’s to build a custom space. Earl of Sandwich will finally get its permanent space in the west end of Downtown Disney near the guitar pick-shaped stage.

New Steakhouse and BBQ Concepts Coming to Downtown Disney

Tortilla Jo’s, a long time Downtown Disney restaurant that’s been open since 2004, recently closed its doors for good. It simply didn’t fit in with the new aesthetic Disney is going for with the new Downtown Disney. For a while, what would take its place was a mystery. Until now, that is.

While Disney remains mum on the details, we now know that a new steakhouse and bbq concept will take the place of Tortilla Jo’s. Disneyland has been without a steakhouse since the closure of Steakhouse ‘55 at the Disneyland Hotel a few years ago and the resort has never had a proper BBQ eatery, so these will undoubtedly be welcomed additions.

It’s unclear if the steakhouse will be a revitalized version of Steakhouse ‘55 or one run by a third party. The latter of which is the most likely, as Disney already has a relationship with STK Steakhouse at Disney Springs in Florida. Personally, as long as it isn’t a Ruth Chris, I’m good either way.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If you’re considering staying on property, read about our tour of the new Pixar Place Hotel. Additionally, get tips and advice on purchasing tickets by reading 10 Best Disneyland Tips: Tickets. Furthermore, stay updated on ride closures by reading and bookmarking my 2024 Attraction Refurbishment Calendar. Finally, to save money on Disneyland tickets and vacations packages, see my friends at Get Away Today.

An Overview of Disability Access Service (DAS) Changes at Disneyland

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

Recently, Disney announced changes to their Disability Access Service (DAS) that will apply to both the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort. This post will focus on what these changes mean for visitors to Disneyland so if you’re planning a trip to WDW, you read more about their details here.

DAS at Disneyland began a number of years ago with the intent of providing guests with certain disabilities who cannot wait in traditional queues a more comfortable experience at the parks. This service enabled those guests and their group to skip the stand-by queues in a manner much like how Genie+ works.

Unfortunately, DAS has been wrought with abuse over the years, enabling many who really shouldn’t be using the service to cheat the system by skipping lines. This has led to many issues, the worst of which being an over-inflation of wait times in stand-by queues and Lightning Lane queues alike.

The changes go into effect at Disneyland on June 18th and were made with the intention of both making the service easier to use for those who require it and to better prevent abuse and/or misuse. In this post, I’ll discuss the details of DAS, such as who can use it, how to sign up for it, policy changes and more.

What is Disability Access Service (DAS)?

As stated above, DAS is a service offered at Disneyland that provides guests with certain disabilities who are unable to wait in traditional stand-by queues quick access to select attractions in both parks. For the most part, those disabilities include autism and other development related disorders.

Instead of waiting in stand-by queues, guests utilizing DAS and their party arrive to their selected attraction during the designated return window, similar to how Genie+ works. Upon arriving, DAS guests will use either the Lightning Lane or exit to access to the attraction, bypassing the stand-by queue.

The total wait for each attraction is comparable to the posted time for stand-by but instead of waiting there, DAS guests spend that time elsewhere that’s more comfortable, or at another attraction or show that has a tolerable wait.

If you’ve ever used Genie Plus (or its predecessor, MaxPass), this process will be familiar to you. Like Genie Plus, you may select only one attraction at a time and can only make another selection once you’ve used your current allotment or a certain amount of time has passed. Unlike Genie Plus, you can select the same attraction more than once.

So what can you do while waiting for your return time? You can spend that time exploring the park, enjoying other attractions with shorter wait times (Adventureland Treehouse for example), meet your favorite characters or take this time to enjoy a meal or snack.

When approved, your DAS eligibility is good for every day on your Disneyland ticket or up to 120-days, whichever is shorter.

Who Can and Cannot Use DAS at Disneyland?

Once the recent changes have been implemented, only guests with “hidden” disabilities such as autism or similar developmental or mobility disorders that make it difficult to impossible to wait in traditional queues will be eligible for DAS.

Another feature of the program is the ability to take strollers (if the DAS eligible guest requires it) all the way to the loading area of the attraction. Most guests must leave strollers in the designated area outside of the attraction but DAS guests are given exceptions. In order to take advantage of this, be sure to ask for a stroller tag when you sign up.

If the guest’s disability requires the use of a wheelchair or scooter, that guest will not need DAS unless there are additional elements to the disability that might require it. Otherwise, those guests should refer to the cast member at each attraction about what to do.

At most attractions in Disneyland park, this typically means accessing the attraction through the exit as stand-by queues in the older attractions aren’t ADA friendly. The modern attractions in the park, in addition to those at California Adventure, do have ADA compliant queues.

If your mobility issue prevents you from standing for long periods of time but doesn’t require the use of a wheelchair or scooter, you may be asked to bring or rent one as the solution as you may not be eligible for DAS as it’s mostly for guests with “invisible” disabilities.

Furthermore, at Disneyland, you do not need to provide proof of disability as Disney take guests at their word. However, the more details you can provide to the cast member, the more they’re able to help you. It’s best to be perfectly honest as if it’s proven a guest has lied about the disability, they’ll face a lifetime ban from both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

How to Sign Up For DAS at Disneyland

There are two ways to sign up for DAS. You either speak with a cast member on arrival at the park or online via DAS Advance up to 30-days prior to the first day of your visit. Keep in mind that starting June 18, you will no longer be able to sign up inside the park, as that service will be moved outside in the esplanade.

Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, but no matter which option you go with, the guest requiring DAS will need to be physically present. If that guest is a minor, the parent will be able to speak for them, but they’ll still need to be present as they’ll have their photo taken. Additionally, you’ll need to ensure that you have all of your tickets purchased by then.

How to Sign Up For DAS Advance

The advantages to DAS Advance are; it’ll be done in an environment the guest is comfortable with (they’re home) and as an added bonus, the cast member will assist you with making your first two attraction selections for each day of your visit. You can register to begin that process at this link.

As mentioned above, you may begin the process through DAS Advance up to thirty days, but no less than two days prior to the day of your first visit. The downfall to DAS Advance is the wait for a cast member can be long, especially in the afternoon and evening. Logging in first thing in the morning is key to avoiding a lengthy wait.

DAS Advance key info:

• Hours of availability are 9am - 8pm

• It is currently only available in the English language

Before beginning your video chat, be sure to:

• Log into your Disney account

• Review and accept the terms & conditions

• Ensure park tickets are linked together in the account

• Make sure the guest requiring DAS is physically present

Once you’ve connected with a cast member, you’ll discuss with them your needs. If approved, you’ll be able to select two DAS return times for select attractions for each day of your visit. Some of these attractions include Matterhorn Bobsleds, Big Thunder Mountain, Incredicoaster and Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission BREAKOUT.

How to Sign Up For DAS in Person

If you choose to wait until you arrive (and you’re arriving prior to June 18), make your way to guest services inside either park to inquire. At Disneyland Park guest services is at City Hall and in DCA, you’ll find it just past Oswald’s to the left, just inside the gate.

The only real advantage to this is it’s typically faster than doing it in video chat, but that could be offset if there are many others in line. People go to guest services for several reasons, not just to sign up for DAS, and there are usually only a small handful of cast members available to assist.

This could get worse starting June 18 as guests of both parks will need to go to a single location in the esplanade. A particular location hasn’t yet been announced, but it’ll likely be one or two of the unused ticket booths. For this reason, I highly recommend signing up through video chat.

How to Use DAS at the Parks

Using DAS in the parks is easy and similar in nature to Genie Plus, as you’ll book your attraction return times within the Disneyland app. You can also ask cast members stationed throughout the park to do it, but it’s much quicker through the app. To make your first selections (aside from the ones you made in the video chat) you must be scanned into the park.

One you’re in the park, open the Disneyland app and sign into your account. Scroll to the “More” option at the bottom of the main tab. Then, tap the DAS button to see available attraction selections. Note that only guests who have been approved for DAS will be able to view this.

When you arrive to the attraction for your return time, simply hold your phone or MagicBand up to the Mickey-shaped scanner to access the attraction. Keep in mind that the person who was approved for DAS must scan theirs first, followed by the rest of the group.

If you have a park hopper ticket, you will not be able make DAS selections for the other park until you have been scanned into it. For example, if you’re currently in DCA, you won’t be able to make a DAS selection for an attraction in Disneyland until you’re actually in Disneyland.

Which Rides and Attractions Work With DAS?

At Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure, guests with DAS can access all attractions. Including the ones without Lightning Lanes. This is especially advantageous for DAS guests as those with Genie Plus can only access select attractions.

For example, none of the Fantasyland attractions, aside from Matterhorn Bobsleds, are included with Genie Plus. Since these attractions don’t have Lightning Lanes, you’ll likely access the ride through the exit where a cast member will scan you in. If you’re unsure, just check with a cast member.

Additionally, the attractions with Individual Lightning Lanes are also included in DAS and do not require a separate purchase. These attractions include Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in Disneyland and Radiator Springs Racers at DCA.

If an attraction you have a return time for were to break down, you will be issued a “Multiple Experiences Pass”. Normally, this pass would only work on attractions that are on Genie Plus but with DAS, you’ll be able to use it on any attraction.

Does DAS Work During Special Events?

Generally, no, DAS does not apply to special events such as After Dark Nites and Oogie Boogie Bash. Reason being is because during these events, there are far less people in the parks than a normal day and the majority of event attendees are there for the special event’s offerings, not the rides.

As a result, the lines for attractions during these events are mostly on the short side, at most. When we attended Disney Channel Nite in March, most of the attractions were walk-ons, with Space Mountain having the worst line of the night at just twenty minutes.

The sole exception to this is the Villains Grove attraction during the annual Ooogie Boogie Bash at DCA. Though there are ways to avoid it, the queue for Villains Grove is often long, so cast members are stationed near the entrance to assist DAS approved guests.

How Many Guests Can Be in a DAS Group?

With the old policy, the general consensus was six to a group (five family members for every one DAS guest). However, it wasn’t exactly a hard and fast rule as cast members didn’t want to break groups up so essentially, your group could be as big as you wanted it to be.

As of June 18, 2024, you’ll be permitted four to a group (three family members for every one DAS guest). From what I’m hearing, this is going to be enforced much more than it used to be, but you can discuss that with the cast member during the sign up process.

While there are no guarantees, if the fifth person in your group is a child or an elderly parent, you stand a good chance of gaining an exception. Remember, Disney’s goal here is to reduce abuse of the system, so don’t count on everyone being approved if you have a large group.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If so, be sure to read my review of the new Pixar Place Hotel. Additionally, read up on the multiple aspects of dining with my 2024 Disneyland Dining Guide. Furthermore, learn how to save money at Disneyland by reading 10 Best Disneyland Tips: Food and Drink. Finally, to save money on Disneyland tickets and vacation packages, visit my friends at Get Away Today.

Our Tour of the Pixar Place Hotel at Disneyland

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

In 2022, Disney announced what many Disney fans were longing for since the reimagining of Paradise Pier into Pixar Pier in 2018; the loathed (I’m probably sugar-coating it a bit) Paradise Pier Hotel would receive an reimagining of its own into Pixar Place Hotel.

Unlike other Disney projects, it didn’t take long for Disney to begin the construction process on the project. Slowly but surely removing old references of its former identity and throwing in splashes of badly needed color and character (literally).

With this transformation, it was also announced that Southern California favorite Great Maple Modern American Eatery would take over the space inside the hotel once occupied by PCH Grill. Great Maple would go on to open to guests months before the grand reveal of the hotel’s refreshed identity.

Finally, in late January, 2024, the transformation was completed (sort of) and guests could now say they were staying at the first Pixar-branded hotel in the company’s extensive portfolio, and the reviews have been largely positive.

Admittedly, I initially thought this was going to be another cheap re-theme of an already cheaply re-themed, aging property, but Kisha and I recently had the opportunity to tour it and I must admit, the Imagineers did a wonderful job. They indeed redeemed what was once considered Disney’s worst hotel.

So what does the exterior and interior look like? How about the rooms? Wondering if the food at Great Maple is worth it? I answer all of these questions and more in the post below. Let’s get into it.

Pixar Place Hotel Exterior, Lobby and Great Maple Restaurant

If you are at all familiar with Paradise Pier Hotel, it wouldn’t take long for you to notice the stark difference of the new exterior. While a bit bland, the newly painted building’s eggshell white exterior is complimented by the Pixar reds, yellows and blues, beating out the building’s former uninspiring, drab look of yellows and greens by a long shot.

Additionally, branded signage has been added to the upper portions of the building on either side. At night is when the hotel’s exterior comes to life, as a newly installed lighting package illuminates the walls. I feel the street-facing portion of the building could use some additional signage to give it more character but as is, it’s a huge upgrade.

Upon entering the lobby from the hotel’s main entrance off Disneyland Drive, you’ll immediately take notice of a large scale model of Pixar’s long-time mascot Luxo Jr balancing on another iconic symbol of Pixar, the Pixar ball. Additionally, you’ll also take notice of the dozen or so color changing panels hanging above from the upper atrium.

A plethora of seating options and faux plants have been added to area, making it a nice place to hang out while you wait for check-in or for the rest of your party to arrive. Just to the right of Luxo is the hotel’s sole gift shop STOR-E, a quick-bite eatery and coffee spot called Sketch Pad Cafe, and further down the hall, Great Maple Modern American Eatery.

We had the chance to dine at Great Maple during our tour and it instantly became one of our favorites on property. Prices are a bit high, but the service was great, the food was delicious and the vibes were vibin’. If you want to read more extensively about our experience and what we ordered (including prices), you can read my review here.

Continuing with the tour, to the left of the Luxo statue is where the check-in desk, elevators and additional sitting areas are. Here is where Imagineers went wild with Pixar theming elements. Across from the check-in desk is a lounge-style seating area themed after Finding Nemo, on the walls behind the check-in desk are illuminated portraits of several Pixar characters and near the staircase is a jazz-style piano where Joe Gardner from Pixar’s Soul makes sporadic appearances.

In addition to Joe Gardner, another regular character appearance is Bing Bong from Pixar’s beloved movie Inside Out.We spotted him by the Luxo statue, but I have heard he also makes regular appearances on the pool deck for hotel guests. Don’t count on either of these characters being a permeant fixture at the hotel, as Disney will likely phase them out as the newness of the hotel dissipates (or swap them out).

One thing I noticed about the lobby was how peaceful it was in comparison to the Grand Californian’s lobby. GCH’s lobby is top-tier and my favorite, but it’s often busy as non-hotel guests from the park utilize it for mid-day park breaks, mixing with the already heavy hotel guest crowds.

Of the two, GCH definitely has the better lobby, but we were at Pixar Place in the middle of the day on a Saturday when both parks were packed and we had it largely to ourselves. Furthermore, we were in the lobby at several points of the day and aside from check-in time, there were very few people around.

Pixar Place Hotel Pool Deck

On the third-floor rooftop deck you’ll find an abundance of seating, a pool, splash pad, whirlpool and the 186-foot water slide themed after several characters from Finding Nemo. The pool area is fenced off and only accessible with a room key. Out of respect for people’s privacy, I didn’t photograph the pool area. However, Disney was kind enough to provide the above photo.

The remaining area of the rooftop deck is open to all guests, whether you’re staying at the hotel or not. Here you’ll find fire pits in the form of several Pixar characters, ample lounge-style seating and overhead lighting. With the fire pits providing warmth and the walls blocking the wind, I can see this eventually being a popular hangout space among locals.

If you plan to book, keep in mind that the pool area is fairly undersized for a Disney hotel, as compared to the Grand Californian and The Disneyland Hotel’s pools. While winter won’t be a problem, I can definitely see it being one in the summer. Especially in the afternoon when many families take a break from the parks.

Additionally, a cast member tipped to us that the pool deck is a great place to watch the evening fireworks show. During the show, the lights are dimmed and music is piped in. Even though you don’t need to be a hotel guest to access it, most people are unaware of this spot so it’s rarely ever crowded. If you just want to see the fireworks and don’t care where you watch them from, this is a solid option.

Pixar Place Hotel Rooms

Guest rooms have received a serious upgrade from their previous set-up with, you guessed it, several not-so-subtle touches of Pixar-themed decor all throughout the room. Pixar has never been known to be subtle, though, so it works with their brand identity.

Coming from someone who typically prefers hotels with the “less is more” philosophy as it pertains to room decor and color palette, I can make an exception here. If you are going to book a room at a hotel branded after Pixar, stepping into an animated multi-colored room shouldn’t come as a surprise, after-all.

Most rooms come with a pull-out sleeper couch, though in the two queen rooms pictured above, the sleeper is twin-sized whereas the king bed rooms come with a queen sized sleeper. Either one would be advantageous for families with several children, though. Additionally, one and two-bedroom suites are also available. Additional room features include:

• Tons of indirect and recessed lighting options

• A work desk with a literal (bolted down) Luxo Lamp

• Mini-fridge and coffee maker (K-cup variety)

• An abundance of USB and USB-C ports

• Storage options

• Shampoo, conditioner and body wash dispensers on the shower wall

Your view will depend upon the room you book and floor you receive. Most east facing rooms get a view of Disney California Adventure, with elements of Pixar Pier and the Cadillac Range of Cars Land highly visible. These rooms could offer an excellent vantage point of the park’s nighttime spectacular - World of Color.

West facing rooms won’t get as good of a view, as all you’ll see is the hotel’s pool and a vastness of parking spaces (for now, that is). I say this because if Disney gets their way with their DisneylandForward expansion plans, these rooms will have a prime view of whatever land they’re planning to build there (Pandora, anyone?).

For now, if you don’t book a room with a prime view of DCA, you could always utilize the elevator and get the “in between the towers” view, as pictured above, for free. Though I wouldn’t count on it being crystal clear as it seems someone forgot the “clean the elevators” element of the redesign (during our tour, anyway).

Pixar Place Hotel Nightly Rates

Like any hotel, rates at Pixar Place will vary based upon season and availability but generally, you should find Pixar Place to be a couple hundred dollars cheaper than The Disneyland Hotel and a few hundred less than the Grand Californian. I say generally because if the lower-tier rooms at either property sell out, Pixar Place will command higher prices as a result.

Furthermore, despite the official re-opening in late January, there are still many yet-to-be finished rooms unavailable to guests. They are expected to be completed later this year but in the interim, expect the dip in available inventory to inflate nightly rates.

That said, I would expect Pixar Place to fluctuate between the $350 - $600 range for a basic room with either a standard or premium view throughout the year. For club level, tack on another couple hundred, probably more once the club level lounge opens later this year.

While Pixar Place is still considered third place behind the Grand Californian and The Disneyland Hotel in terms of class, it is now at least on-par with many of the higher end good neighbor hotels with this re-branding and new amenities, which makes the price tag much more tolerable than it was previously.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If so, read about the changes made to Advance Dining Reservations at the resort. Additionally, read about the upcoming closure of Critter Country and what I think Disney should do with the area. Furthermore, read about what to expect during this year’s Pixar Fest here. Finally, to save money on Disneyland tickets and hotel packages, visit my preferred Disney travel agency, Get Away Today.

Visiting Disneyland in September 2024

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

Is Disneyland Crowded in September?

Historically speaking, September has always been the best time of year to visit the Disneyland Resort (well, part of it anyway). The best time, of the best time, to visit Disneyland is between the end of August and mid-September.

That timeframe is loaded with days on the low end of the crowds spectrum. Typically by Labor Day, many schools in Southern California are back in session and parents are back in the office. Since Disneyland is largely a local’s park, it sees a temporary dip in attendance in that period.

One caveat to this that could end up making a liar out of me is the fact that for the first time at Disneyland, Halloween season begins in late August. In prior years, it began in mid-September and caused a spike in crowd levels that would continue to snowball until after well Christmas.

Another wildcard this year is the upcoming Tiana’s Bayou Adventure attraction. The current opening timeline is being billed at, “late 2024”. However, there’s been significant progress on the attraction in the last couple months, making the possibility of a September opening a decent one.

I doubt Disney wants to open this attraction in the colder months, as wait times for water-based attractions are typically low, for obvious reasons. Disney needs Tiana’s to be a smash hit, so opening it when the temperatures are still fairly hot would be preferable as demand would surely be high.

Looking at the single-day tickets calendar, weekdays during the first two weeks are priced at the low end of the spectrum at $104. Some view this as an indicator that it’ll be a slow day, but it could potentially be a situation where you might want to utilize the, “zig while they zag”, strategy.

The reason I say that is because value-seekers will likely see that price as an opportunity to go doing those low-demand days which in turn could cause crowds to swell. Weekends surge to the $160 mark and weekdays in the latter half of the month aren’t far behind that.

Keep in mind that since locals are back in school and work, the bulk of the crowds you are going to see will be in the mid-afternoon and evening hours. If you commit to rope dropping the parks and being back at your hotel by 1:00 or 2:00pm, your opinion on how crowded it is will largely differ from someone who didn’t arrive until 5:00pm.

Something else to consider is the annual Oogie Boogie Bash party at Disney California Adventure. On Oogie Boogie nights, DCA closes early to regular ticket holders, often causing a huge migration across the esplanade to Disneyland park, causing an even bigger swell.

With Halloween beginning in August this year, this is yet another wildcard that could have an adverse effect on crowds during a traditionally slow time. As it pertains to evenings, anyway.

That said, as the month progresses and Halloween gets into more people’s minds, the crowd levels will steadily rise. Due to this, I’ll stick with my usually recommendation and say go ahead and book dates between the last week of August and mid-September.

You’re going to get all the benefits of visiting during the Halloween season with far less crowds than any other time. Do be weary of weekdays, though. As I discussed above, that $104 price tag could make weekends more favorable if you can swing the extra cost.

Anaheim Weather in September

Anaheim generally has pleasant weather in September. The humidity remains low despite day-time temperatures often exceeding 80 degrees for the majority of the month. It’s more of a dry heat, though, and generally isn’t too bad.

Night-time lows dip into the mid-sixties for the first half of September. As the month progresses towards October, it’ll get down to the low sixties while rarely going below that. Many assume that because it’s Southern California it’s always warm. That isn’t the case, so be sure to pack a hoodie.

Precipitation is nearly non-existent as September is one of the driest months in Orange County, so I definitely wouldn’t bother with packing an umbrella or rain jacket.

Overall, aside from a few unusually high temperature days, September is great month, weather-wise, to visit Disneyland.

Disneyland Resort Hotel Rates

Disney has years worth of historical crowd pattern data to go off and they’re known for maximizing profits whenever and wherever they can. One of their most profitable sectors in which to do that is nightly rates at their branded hotels.

The Disneyland Resort currently has three; the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, The Disneyland Hotel and Pixar Place Hotel. They each vary in rates and amenities, but all offer an opportunity to stay within the Disney bubble. Disney considers resort hotel guests to be the most valuable.

Hotel rates are a good indicator of expected crowd patterns for any specific period because as stated above, Disney will maximize their profits however they can. So if they’re expecting a busy week, their hotels will command high nightly rates.

The following are averages of the three resort hotels listed above. Keep in mind that if you decide to book, your average may be lower or higher than what I’m listing below. Disney prices their hotels dynamically, similar to how airlines price tickets, so they’re easily affected by demand, major area events, etc.

Grand Californian Hotel & Spa Rates: The ‘Grand’ is always priced the highest as it’s Disneyland’s luxury, high end resort. For a standard view room, the average rate in September is $761.24. For a club level room with the same view, the rate spikes to $1,351.31.

The Disneyland Hotel Rates: This is Disneyland’s original hotel (though there isn’t much of the actual original hotel remaining) and is considered their mid-range offering. For a standard view room, September’s average rate is $588.90 and for a club level room of the same view, you’re looking at $987.45. For a deluxe studio in the Discovery (Villas) Tower, it’s $680.99 per night.

Pixar Place Hotel Rates: Pixar Place is Disneyland’s newest(ish) hotel offering, recently completing it’s years long transformation from its previous Paradise Pier Hotel brand. For a standard view room, you’re looking at a nightly rate of $481.25 and $692.25 for club level.

Disney is definitely trying to entice people to stay on-property as the rates for September are indeed lower than they were in July or August. You may think that’s obvious since those are summer months but in recent years the holiday season has rivaled summer as the resort’s busiest time of year.

After breaking up the averages between the first and second half of September, the average rates are higher in the latter half than they are in the first. That’s a huge indicator to me that, despite the early kick-off of Halloween at the resort, Disney is still expecting lower crowds in that first half.

Disneyland Rides Closed in September

Disney typically doesn’t release attraction refurbishment information until 45-days ahead of time. At the time of this post’s publishing, that’s a ways off. While I don’t have anything concrete to offer at this time, I do have some suspicions as to what’ll be open or closed.

Firstly, as discussed above, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure could, in theory, be open by September. I have my doubts, personally, but it’s definitely possible given the recent progress. If I had to bet the farm, I would say September is a pipe dream at the moment.

On the flip side, I am fully expecting Haunted Mansion to reopen in time for the kick-off to the Halloween season as Haunted Mansion Holiday. It would be an “egg-to-the-face” moment for Disney if their biggest holiday attraction isn’t open in time, so I believe they’ll make it happen.

If you haven’t heard, Disney is walling off Critter Country in May in order to convert two of the land’s gift shops into themes after two supporting characters from Princess and the Frog, among other smaller projects. While I don’t know how long this closure will be for, I would be shocked if it was still closed come September.

All that said, Disney would have completed the major refurbishments by this point, as they cannot afford to lose more capacity during their incredibly busy holiday season. Still, I would anticipate a few quick closures here and there, but nothing big.

Still, there’s always the chance that both Tiana’s and Haunted Mansion experience construction delays and thus, remain closed. If this happens, capacity throughout the rest of the park will suffer as a result. I’ll keep my eyes on these and update this post as credible information becomes available.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If you’ll be visiting during Halloween, be sure to read 2024 Disneyland Halloween Guide to read about what to expect, tips and more. For tips and advice on tickets, read 10 Best Disneyland Tickets: Park Tickets. To learn about the changes made to Advance Dining Reservations, read Improvements Made to Advance Dining Reservations at Disneyland. Finally, for great deals on Disneyland tickets and vacation packages, visit my friends at Get Away Today.

Improvements Made to Advance Dining Reservations at Disneyland

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

Anyone who’s ever tried making an advance dining reservation (ADR) for a Disneyland restaurant knows how frustrating that process can be. Depending on the restaurant, the competition for a table could be fierce.

Making matters worse, using the website or app to find an available ADR was often annoying.. If there wasn’t anything available and you wanted to search for another day, you were forced to back out of the current page and begin your search all over again.

Recently, Disney announced a few changes to the ADR search process that have since been implemented. Among those changes is the ability to search for an available ADR over a period of up to ten days all at once!

Additionally, tabs are now displayed above the ADR results, indicating which meal period is being displayed. For example, if you don’t see a desired result for dinner, you can now just select the “lunch” tab for instant results, again, without having to completely start over.

This update is now available on both the Disneyland website and app (both iOs and Android). Below, I’ll discuss these changes in greater detail and what you can expect moving forward.

Issues with Advance Dining Reservations at Disneyland

Disneyland die-hards are well aware of the potential complexities of making an ADR. If you’re new to Disneyland and/or ADRs (and if you’re reading this I’m assuming you are), then you’re likely unaware of the common hiccups and loopholes involved.

For example, a seasoned planner would know not to take the unavailability of ADRs at face value. Often, one would simply need to continuously hit refresh between meal period and time searches and an available ADR would magically appear.

Additionally, with the cancellation policy instituting a per person fee if not followed, if you checked again in the days leading up to your desired date (or even day-of) you would, at times, find last minute availability.

Before these recent changes, there have always been a few rules pertaining to advance dining reservations guests had to follow. They are:

• You may make an ADR up to 60-days in advance

• You must provide a credit card to guarantee your ADR

• You must cancel within the stated window to avoid a penalty

These are still true today and apply to all guests, regardless of whether you’re a resort hotel guest or simply visiting for the day. The problem, however, was that the playing field was not level for all, as casual guests often find themselves at a disadvantage due to not being aware of reservations.

If you weren’t a seasoned pro and didn’t look for ADRs first thing in the morning 60-days out, you would often find yourself out in the cold. Even worse, most casual guests aren’t even aware that you can make reservations that far out (or even at all). So they’ve arrived disadvantaged.

These new features won’t solve these issues entirely, as I feel Disney needs to do a better job at advertising the reservation policies to guests and said guests need to do their own legwork to secure them, but they certainly help to smooth out a previously bumpy process.

The New 10-Day Search Feature for Dining Reservations

As mentioned above, when searching for a Disneyland ADR, you would select your desired date, party size and meal period. You would then be presented with a list of restaurants with availability within the parameters of the information you have entered.

Assuming you weren’t satisfied with the results and wanted to search for another day of your visit, you would need to back out and begin the process all over again. Meaning, you would need to re-enter all of your information, not just a new date.

With the recent change, you can now search up to ten days at once, making the process much easier. You have two options in which to do this:

1. Select “Check all Availability” on the Disneyland website or “Check Dining Availability” in the app. Then select your party size, desired date, and meal period. You’ll then presented with a list of restaurants. Under each restaurant, you’ll see “Check Availability for Multiple Days”. Select that to search a range of up to ten days if you don’t see any initial times.

2. On the Disneyland website, go to the “Things to Do” tab and select “All Dining”. You’ll be taken to a list of all restaurants. Those that accept ADRs will have “Check Availability for Multiple Days” underneath them. Select that to conduct a range search right from the beginning.

For some reason, Disney IT decided to implement the ten-day search differently between device and method. In the first example above, you cannot conduct a range search from the start when using the app. For some reason, you’re forced to search a singular date before being presented with the ability to select a range of dates.

This presents a potential issue because by having to initially search for one day, you’ll only be presented with restaurants that have availability for that specific date. Other restaurants may have availability on days at either end of the selected date but because you’re presented with limited options, you won’t have a full list to work with.

For example, say you want to dine at Lamplight Lounge for dinner and you’re utilizing the app to conduct your search. You search for May 12 for a party of four, but since there’s no ADRs available, Lamplight wouldn’t be included in the list and consequently, you’re never given the opportunity to search for that particular restaurant.

To circumvent this, I recommend using a computer (or the browser on your phone) to access the actual website. This way you can select the “All Dining” option to see a list of ALL restaurants that accept reservations and conduct a date range search right from the beginning.

Additionally, there will be four tabs at the top of the search results for different meal periods. They’re presented in time ranges, but essentially are for breakfast, lunch, dinner and an “all” option. If you don’t see availability for dinner, you can now easily hit the “Dinner” tab for instant results, rather than having to start over.

As you can see in the image above, the search results will be presented in descending order from top to bottom according to date and for the reservation times, from left to right beginning with the earliest.

The amount of available reservations will vary depending on which restaurant you are trying for, as some are more in demand than others. You’ll seldom see wide open availability for the harder-to-get eateries. Some of these include:

• Lamplight Lounge

• Blue Bayou

• Napa Rose

• Carthay Circle

The less popular restaurants typically have many options for dining times, often in just a few days notice or even day-of. In the search results for these restaurants, you’ll often see availability in 15-minute increments, rather than a spatter of random times. Some of these restaurants include:

• Wine Country Trattoria

• GCH Craftsman Bar & Grill

• Great Maple Modern American Eatery

• Cafe Orleans

Ultimately, I’m happy with the changes Disney has made to the ADR process. There’s definitely some fine-tuning that needs to occur, along with additional changes for the quirks and annoyances that remain. Overall, it’s made the process less time consuming and more efficient for the guest, which should always be the goal.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If so, be sure to read 10 Best Disneyland Tips: Park Tickets for tips on saving money on tickets and how to avoid getting scammed. If you’re visiting in May or June, be sure to read Disney Closing Critter Country Indefinitely in May. For information on Pixar Fest, read Pixar Fest 2024: 10 Things to Know. Finally, to save money on Disneyland tickets and vacation packages, visit our friends at Get Away Today.

The 17 Offerings From the 2024 DCA Food and Wine Festival We Loved

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

A couple of weeks ago, we attended our very first Food and Wine Festival at Disney California Adventure and let me say, it was an awesome experience.

We deviated from our usual tactic of hitting every attraction we can and devoted the entire day to trying as many of the foods as we could, while also checking out the festival’s live music and vibes.

While we didn’t get around to trying everything (we can only eat so much, after all), we were able to try quite a bit - a total of 20 different foods and drinks. Not all were hits, though.

In this post, I’m going to discuss 17 of those 20 that were we enjoyed, what we liked about them, what we didn’t like, etc., in hopes it’ll help you decide whether or not you’d like to try them yourself. Some of them will be listed in a single list, as I grouped one or two into one photo.

Before we get to the list, be sure to also read my post, The 2024 Food & Wine Festival Sip and Savor Pass: 8 Things to Know. If you’re wanting to try multiple food offerings, you’ll want to purchase this pass because if you use it correctly, you’ll end up saving money with it.

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#1 - The Frozen Old Fashioned

Marketplace: Golden Dreams

Price: $7.00

Let’s begin with dessert, shall we? The frozen old fashioned is a non-alcoholic bourbon-flavored ice cream bar, with bitters crema, orange zest glaze and topped with cherry spheres (bobas).

Many online have stated that while it’s delicious, it doesn’t taste anything like an old fashioned and there’s no hint of bourbon. I disagree. I did get a hint of bourbon in the ice cream, but it dissipated quickly. The main flavors I got from it were the orange zest and cherry.

To be fair, yes, it didn’t taste like an old fashioned, but I don’t think it was ever intended to. It has all of the old fashioned elements in an ice cream bar, hence the name. Honestly, there wasn’t anything about it I didn’t like.

#2 and #3 - Blueberry Pancake Cold Brew & Fig Matcha Latte

Marketplace: Golden Dreams

Price: $7.00 (Fig Matcha) / $7.25 (Blueberry Pancake)

Golden Dreams was the first marketplace we tried in the morning when the festival began, so it was only natural that we needed a quick caffeine boost.

I ordered the Blueberry Pancake Cold Brew, a returning favorite of festival goers. It’s made with Joffrey’s Coffee, a variety of syrups, oat milk and blueberry flavored sweet cream and garnished with what Disney describes as, “cinnamon-flavored cereal crumbles”. In other words - Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Kisha ordered the Fig Match Latte. It’s made with matcha, soy milk, coconut and simple syrups, fig oat sweet cream and garnished with matcha powder.

I liked the Blueberry Pancake just fine but honestly, I didn’t get much blueberry out of it. Additionally, I found the cereal topping to be nothing more than a novelty as they got soggy rather quickly and got lost in the unbearably think ice Disney uses for their cold brews.

The Fig Matcha Latte, on the other hand, was a surprising hit for me. I’m not much of a matcha fan, but this drink won me over. Perhaps it was the sweetness from the fig that balanced it out? Either way, I would order it again.

#4 - Grilled Top Sirloin

Marketplace: Garlic Kissed

Price: $9.00

The Grilled Top Sirloin at the Garlic Kissed booth was in my top three favorite festival offerings. You’ll receive several pieces of grilled sirloin steak with black-garlic chimichurri, on a bed of roasted garlic-gruyere mashed potatoes.

It’s difficult for a theme park to prepare steak bits for the masses without it becoming dry. While, admittedly, the steak was a bit overcooked, the seasoning was incredible. Throw in the garlicky flavors of the chimichurri and potato mash and you have a winning dish.

#5 - The Olive Oil Cake

Marketplace: D*Lish

Price: $7.00

For my money , the olive oil cake was the clear winner of the dessert options. Yes, it beat out the frozen old fashioned. The cake itself was much like a Twinkie, but more dense. It’s glazed with lemon curd and topped with vanilla bean Chantilly, finished with fresh candied lemons, strawberry crunch and a lemon-lime Gelee.

Don’t be fooled by the name, as it seems olive oil has more to do with the baking process of the cake, rather than a visual ingredient. Furthermore, the “lemon-lime Gelee” is straight-up flavorless jello. I didn’t get any lemon-lime from it at all. It’s more of a decorative piece than anything.

Those two things aside, both Kisha and I thoroughly enjoyed the olive oil cake. The lemon flavor wasn’t overbearing, it was lite and refreshing, and the sweetness of the cake was the perfect follow-up to the hearty grilled sirloin dish we just ate.

#6 - Carnitas-style Pork Belly

Marketplace: LA Style

Price: $9.00

Forgive the photo above, but the lighting was horrible in this area of the park and I was having focusing issues with my camera.

Moving on to the food. For this dish, you’re served a small helping of amazingly seasoned pork belly with a side of mac salad, topped with Tajin habanero.

I’ll be perfectly honest, I didn’t give the mac salad the time of day. I had zero interest in it. I did devour the pork belly, however, as it was delicious. It was fatty, but that’s to be expected with pork belly. Additionally, it wasn’t dry in the slightest. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

For what it’s worth, Kisha did eat the mac salad and loved it. She said it wasn’t soupy like mac salad can sometimes be, but not dry either. She also felt the flavor from the Tijin habanero elevated it greatly.

#7 - Butter cake a la mode

Location: Clarabelle’s Hand-Scooped Ice Cream

Price: $7.99

Many don’t realize that the marketplaces (festival booths) aren’t the only locations where you can find special festival offerings. Many of DCA’s year-round eateries have gotten into the festivities as well.

One such eatery is Clarabelle’s, located adjacent to Fiddler, Fifer, and Pratical Cafe (or simply…Starbucks) on Buena Vista Street in the park’s hub.

Their festival offering is the butter cake topped with vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries and whipped cream. It’s a simple dish that we both loved!

Keep in mind that yes, you can use your Food & Wine Sip and Savor pass for the butter cake here, but not any other item on the menu.

#8 - Cheese Pizza-Flavored Wings

Marketplace: Cluck-a-Doodle-Moo

Price: $8.50

This one wasn’t on many people’s “favorites” list but admittedly, I have a fairly basic palette and I’m not too hard to please. Though my palette has gotten a bit more refined in recent years, I still like to throw it back from time-to-time, and pizza flavored chicken wings fits the bill nicely.

I see what others are saying about the wings being too dry, as mine were, but only a little bit. Perhaps I got a good batch? Not sure, but they weren’t that bad. The seasoning consisted of what I can only describe as the same “dust” you would find on pizza-flavored Pringles. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though.

I preferred to eat them without the ranch, but Kisha used it as she felt the wings needed it. I was perfectly fine without as I’ll take a solid dry rub over a saucy mess anytime.

#9 - PB&J Whiskey Shake

Marketplace: Nuts About Cheese

Price: $16.00

The PB&J Whiskey shake was, to me, the clear winner among the drink selections. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. The shake is made with a peanut butter whiskey (Screwball, possibly), raspberry liquor, vanilla ice cream, Joffrey’s Mexico Origin coffee, with peanut butter and raspberry syrups.

As stated above, this was my favorite drink of the festival. I didn’t get any hint of raspberry at all, but both the peanut butter AND whiskey were apparent. I had no idea peanut butter and whiskey went so well together.

Its price does sting, but it isn’t far off from the usual price you’d pay for cocktails. I initially complained (to myself) about the portion size but considering how strong it was, I feel like they couldn’t make it any bigger without things flying off the rails from those who can’t handle liquor well.

Keep in mind that because this is an alcoholic drink, you cannot use your Sip and Savor allotments for it and there are no Magic Key discounts either.

#10 - BBQ Pulled Pork Mac & Cheese

Marketplace: Nuts About Cheese

Price: $9.00

Initially, neither of us had any interest in this one, as even I felt it was too basic, but we had a couple of spare allotments on our Sip and Savor Pass and didn’t want to waste them. Honestly, I’m glad we ended up trying it.

For the most part, it’s your garden variety mac and cheese (not low quality, but definitely not great) topped with a decently seasoned, fairly dry pulled pork. What helped to save it, though, was the crispy dill pickle onions hiding underneath the pulled pork.

I’m not saying they elevated this offering into a gourmet-level dish or anything, but for me (again, basic palette) the crispy dill onions lifted it out of obscurity. If there’s a picky eater in your group, they’ll almost certainly enjoy this.

#11 - Chile Relleno Empanada

Marketplace: Peppers Cali-ente

Price: $8.50

The Chile Relleno Empanada ended up being Kisha’s favorite food offering. It was a last-minute decision as we initially wanted the Shrimp Papas Locas, but switched to this and no, we don’t regret that decision.

It’s an empanada with a roasted chile inside, topped with arbol pepper salsa, Oaxaca and Cotija cheeses. While not overbearing, the empanada did have quite a kick to it. However, the “kick” was mostly flavor based, instead of novelty heat. It dissipated quickly without the need of a drink.

For me, this offering landed a spot in my top three. Every flavor worked cohesively and had a perfect amount of heat. Additionally, the pastry had zero sogginess to it. It had a nice crisp and flakiness to it.

#12 - Tangerine Tiki Cocktail

Marketplace: Cluck-a-Doodle-Moo

Price: $17.00

This was our second alcoholic drink during the festival and while I strongly favor the PB&J Whiskey shake, the Tangerine Tiki cocktail came in at a close second.

The cocktail is made with dark rum, vanilla-citrus liqueur, tangerine and lime juices, honey syrup and garnished with a dried red pineapple wheel.

It was close to the middle of the day when we ordered this, so this lite and refreshing, tropical drink hit the spot. Though I feel there was a lot less rum in this drink than the amount of whiskey in the shake.

#13 - Napoleon churro

Location: Churro Cart near Redwood Creek Challenge Trail

Price: $7.25

We’ve had our fair share of Disneyland churros. Normally, we stick to the tried and true churro with traditional cinnamon sugar. For the festival, however, we broke from that and tried the Napoleon churro from the cart in Grizzly Peak.

It was more than we were expecting, as it’s actually two churros rolled in strawberry sugar and topped with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle. In a word…it was OUTSTANDING. The only criticism I have, and this is mostly personal preference, is I would’ve preferred a dark chocolate sauce to balance out the sweetness from the strawberry.

While I’ll always love the classic Disney churro, I wouldn’t be mad to see the Napoleon become a permeant fixture at this churro cart.

#14 - Mickey-Shaped Macaron w/ Snikers

Marketplace: Nuts About Cheese

Price: $7.75

As you can see in the photo above, this thing was HUGE. I’ve never had a macaron before, but I have seen them and don’t recall them being this size. I guess they had to justify the nearly $8 price tag somehow.

The macaron is in the shape of Mickey Mouse and made with caramel ganache, Snickers pieces and topped with peanuts. As a fan of Snickers, I thought it was good but at the same time, it was way too big. Definitely bring a plastic baggy for this one.

#15 - The Fun & Fruity Beer Flight

Location: Festival Beer Garden near Paradise Grill

Price: $18.50

During our mid-day break from the festival, we headed over to the Festival Beer Garden to watch a local band, Westside 6, perform a set. While there, we decided to order the Fun & Fruity Beer Flight.

All the beers were good, but the clear stand-out was Fuzzy Logic Peach (number two in the photo above). I’m not sure how to review beer as I don’t drink it often, but it had a great taste. It was on the lite side, refreshing and didn’t give me that bloated feeling other beers do.

#16 - Cheeseburger Bao

Marketplace: California Craft Brews

Price: $8.50

In the interest of transparency, let me state that this was another dish that I had no interest in trying. Kisha, on the other hand, loved it and insisted it be added to the list. So here it is.

My better half reports that the cheeseburger bao tastes exactly as it’s named - a cheeseburger. The bao wasn’t dry at all and the meat inside was flavorful. Topped on the bao are the same ingredients you’d find on a burger, thousand island dressing, grilled onions, pickle and relish.

#17 - Carbonara Garlic Mac & Cheese

Marketplace: D*Lish

Price: $9.00

The final dish on this list was also our favorite, the carbonara mac and cheese featuring Nueske’s Peppered Bacon. If I could imagine a perfect mac and cheese dish, it would be this one.

The saltiness from the bacon pieces, in combination with the garlic, in addition to the crunch from the bread crumbs, elevates this otherwise simple (but classic) dish.

There’s a reason why it continues to reappear, festival after festival. If you’re only going to try one dish at the California Food and Wine Festival, make it this one.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? For information on tickets, be sure to read 10 Best Disneyland Tips: Park Tickets for advice. If you’re visiting during the Food and Wine Festival, read The 2024 Food & Wine Festival Sip and Savor Pass: 8 Things to Know. To read about our recent experience at the resort’s newest restaurant, read Our Experience at Great Maple Modern American Eatery. Finally, to save money on your Disneyland tickets and vacation packages, see our friends at Get Away Today.

I want to hear from you…

Did you attend this or last year’s California Food and Wine Festival? What did you try and which were your favorites? Is there anything on this list you would’ve left off or added on? Sound off in the comments below.

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Star Wars: Season of the Force 2024 Foodie Guide

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

On the morning of March 25, Disney finally announced the foodie guide for this year’s Star Wars: Season of the Force event taking place at Disneyland Park and, partially, at Downtown Disney.

The event begins in the spring and runs through early summer and celebrates all things Star Wars. Throughout the event, there will be a new way to watch the fireworks from within Galaxy’s Edge, exclusive merchandise, limited-time experiences and themed food offerings.

Season of the Force begins on April 5 and will culminate on June 2, running (partially) concurrently with Pixar Fest, which is mostly taking place across the esplanade at Disney California Adventure.

So what are the food and drink offerings going to be this year? Where will they be sold? I answer these questions and more in the post below. Let’s get into it.

Tomorrowland Star wars offerings

As mentioned above, the majority of the Star Wars festivities will be taking place at Disneyland park, mostly within two of the park’s lands, Galaxy’s Edge and Tomorrowland.

You won’t find any Season of the Force offerings at Disney California Adventure as there isn’t anything Star Wars related in that park and DCA will be busy hosting the majority of Pixar Fest activities.

In Tomorrowland, the only restaurant that will be offering Star Wars-themed foods is Galactic Grill, as Alien Pizza Planet will be preoccupied with celebrating, you guessed it, Pixar Fest.

The above are reference photos provided by Disney, showcasing the foods and drinks you’ll be able to order at Galactic Grill. They are, in order from top left to bottom right:

• Bantha Burger: An angus beef and vegetable patty, marinated pork belly, American cheese, Asian-inspired slaw and “sambal” sweet mayo on a toasted brioche bun (new offering)

• Chorizo Loaded Fries: Waffle fries, pork chorizo, chile de arbol cheese sauce and black beans, topped with avocado-tomatillo sauce, green onions and Oaxaca cheese

• Wookiee Parfait: Chocolate sponge cake, chocolate pudding and caramel mousse on a chocolate-coffee crust with chocolate pearls

• Watermelon Slush with Death Star glow cube (new offering)

• Granny Smith Apple Slush with Millennium Falcon glow cube

For me, the two stands outs from this line up at the chorizo fries and Wookiee parfait. In prior years during Halloween, Disney sold a favorite of ours, the “Darth by Chocolate” parfait at Galactic Grill. It’ll be interesting to see how the Wookiee version of the parfait will hold up against it.

Also offered in Tomorrowland are two, sure-to-be insanely in-demand popcorn buckets themed after Jabba the Hut and a “Salvaged Stormtrooper Helmet”.

The Jabba the Hut bucket will be sold at two locations - Galactic Grill and the popcorn cart near Star Trader. The Stormtrooper helmet will also be sold in those locations, in addition to several locations within Galaxy’s Edge.

The press release stats that these will be available “beginning April 5”, which is the start of the seasonal event, but doesn’t mention an end date. Indicating they could possibly (and probably) sell completely out before the end of the event.

Disney’s themed popcorn buckets have surged in popularity over the last few years, often commanding huge queues upon their release and selling out quickly. I predict these two will be no different and will, given their themes, likely eclipse past buckets.

The aforementioned popcorn buckets won’t be the only food-related accessories you’ll be able to purchase at Galactic Grill. Others, in order of top left to bottom right in the photo above, include:

• Darth Vader Stainless Steel Tumbler

• Grogu Sipper

• Millennium Falcon Popcorn Bucket

• Death Star Glow cube

Both the stainless steel tumbler and sipper will include a fountain beverage at time of purchase, but they will not entitle you to free refills.

In addition to Galactic Grill, you’ll also be able to purchase the Darth Vader tumbler at GCH Craftsman Grill at the Grand Californian Hotel. Additionally, the Gorgu sipper will also be sold at the Tomorrowland fruit cart.

Not pictured is the Darth Vader premium mug, also sold at Galactic Grill. It’ll include the option of a fountain beverage or bottle of DASANI water at time of purchase. ALL of these accessories are limited to two per person.

Star wars galaxy’s edge offerings

The fun doesn’t stop at Tomorrowland as Galaxy’s Edge is also getting in on the fun. Here is where the new fireworks experience named "Fire of the Rising Moons” will take place. Note this isn’t a separate fireworks show, but a new way in which to view it.

From within Galaxy’s Edge, you’ll be viewing the same fireworks show as everyone else but instead of hearing the show’s usual music, you’ll hear Star Wars-related music. It’s essentially like you’re watching fireworks in actual Batuu, furthering the immersive nature of the land. Personally, I’m excited for this.

Let’s get back on track with the food offerings at Galaxy’s Edge. While all food-related locations in the land will be offering something, the vast majority are concentrated between Docking Bay 7, the sole quick-service location in the land, and Oga’s Cantina, which you’ll need a reservation or join the walk-up list to get into.

There will be two new entree offerings at Docking Bay 7. One is a returning favorite and the other is a brand new option. They are:

• Fried Chicken Baos: Two crispy chicken boas with spicy katsu sauce and creamy slaw (new offering)

• Dewback Chili Noodles: Spiced fettuccine noodles with gingered ground pork, broccolini stems and red cabbage shred

They couldn’t have come up with two dishes more perfect for Kisha and I. Kisha is a huge fan of baos and those spicy noodles are calling my name. We can’t wait for them to hit the menu.

Unfortunately, they won’t be selling a specialty cold brew, outside of the usual Black Caf. I’m a sucker for cold brews and while I love me a Black Caf, I would’ve liked to have seen another option added to the event line up.

At Oga’s Cantina, five brand new galactic-themed drinks will make their way to the menu. Four of the five contain alcohol while the fifth is the sole kid-friendly option. They are:

• Oga’s Obsession: Minute Maid lemonade, wild strawberry flavor, yogurt-filled boba, garnished with strawberry and grape candle pebbles (Nerds)

• Fiery Mustafarian: El Mayor Añejo Tequila, Aperol Aperitivo Liqueur, peach purée, peach syrup and lime juice served with a dropper of spicy lava syrup

• Silver Sea Martini: Hendrick’s Gin, Minute Maid Lemonade, ginger syrup, honey and mint syrup with a shimmery butterfly pea flower tea topping

• Chandrilan Chalice: Hendrick’s Gin, Minute Maid Lemonade, ginger syrup, honey, and mint syrup topped with a shimmery butterfly pea flower tea served in a souvenir wine glass

• Chandrilan Orb Glass: El Mayor Añejo Tequila, Aperol Aperitivo Liqueur, peach purée, peach syrup and lime juice served with a dropper of spicy lava syrup in a souvenir wine glass

Normally, I don’t get excited over the food and drink accessories sold at Disneyland. This one, however, might be the one that breaks me. In addition to the drinks above, Oga’s also selling a beer flight served on a souvenir board with four Rancor teeth.

I have no idea how much it’s going to cost, as Disney neglected to list that detail in their press release. My guess is a minimum of $50, as this will surely be a high-demand souvenir. I’d make a reservation early in the day to ensure you can get one.

Rounding out the options in Galaxy’s Edge is the Pasaana Punch at Ronto Roasters (pictured in the top photo), the Celto Slush at Kat Saka’s Kettle and the Toydaria Swirl at Milk Stand.

Ronto Roasters is known for their delicious Ronto Wraps, but also for their specialty beverages like the famed Tatooine Sunset (a personal favorite of mine). I’m curious to see how this new beverage compares.

Resort Hotels & Downtown Disney offerings

The seasonal offerings continue throughout the resort, namely at the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa and select locations in the Downtown Disney District.

At the snack cart near the lobby of the Grand Californian, there will be several Star Wars-themed treats for sale, similar to the ones sold during the holidays and other events. One such example, as pictured above, is a Grogu shaped macaron.

Additionally, the lobby will feature a massive, showpiece cake in the shape of the Millennium Falcon arriving in Black Spire Outpost. Designed by Disney’s in-house culinary team, this cake will surely impress. It’ll only be available to view from April 5 - May 31.

Furthermore, two of the hotel’s restaurants, GCH Craftsman Grill and Hearthstone Lounge, will serve a “Bitter Martini” made with Hendrick’s Gin, Campari liqueur, lemon juice, simple syrup and green grapes. I’m not much of a gin person, but I’ll likely give this one a shot.

In Downtown Disney, there were only two eateries listed as participants in Season of the Force. They are Salt & Straw and Splitzville Luxury Lanes.

At Salt & Straw, they’re serving up an interesting, frozen concoction called, “Maraschino Cherry with Tye-Dye Marshmallow Fluff”, made with pink and blue marshmallow “milky way” fluff with purple, dark cherry ice cream.

If you’re a fan of sushi, you’ll want to head over to Splitzville. On the menu will be the “Cosmic Roll”. It’ll feature nori wrapped around sushi rice with tempura-fried kanikama crab, avocado, jalapeños and crispy garlic topped with eel sauce and sesame seeds.

When it comes to libations, only one drink is making its way to their menu. It’s called the “Order 2018”, made with gin, Italian liqueur and fresh-squeezed citrus (pictured on the right of the photo collage).

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If you’ll be visiting for Pixar Fest, read Pixar Fest 2024 at Disneyland: 10 Things to Know. For information about the different aspects of dining, read my 2024 Disneyland Dining Guide. Furthermore, for information and tips, read 10 Best Disneyland Tips: Food and Drinks. Finally, for great deals on Disneyland tickets and vacation packages, as well as expert travel assistance, visit my friends at Get Away Today.

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Disney Closing Critter Country Indefinitely in May (+ My Thoughts)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

Disneyland is currently in the process of reimagining the former Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and as part of that reimagining, it’s been recently announced that Critter Country, the land in which the attraction is located, will temporarily close to guests on May 1 for an indefinite amount of time.

The purpose of the closure is to transform two of the land’s current gift shops, The Briar Patch and the left half of Pooh’s Corner, into shops themed after two popular supporting characters from the Princess and the Frog movie, Louis the Gator and Raymond the Firefly.

This closure signifies to me that construction on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is moving along nicely (though still behind), and this new project puts us one step closer to an opening date. Don’t get too excited, though, as we’re still months out, with a presumed opening timeline around Thanksgiving or later.

This is in stark contrast to Walt Disney World’s version, who closed their Splash Mountain months earlier than Disneyland did, and while there’s still no hard opening date, its timeline has been recently updated from “late 2024” to “summer 2024”. Lucky them, right?

I haven’t heard anything credible regarding the opening date of Disneyland’s version but as stated above, I’m sure there’s a push from Disney to have it ready by Thanksgiving time. It could get pushed into January, but Disney likely wants to avoid the “go woke, go broke” crowd by opening it before winter, when water-based attractions typically see low wait times and give a false perception that they’re not popular.

Disney wants needs this to be a smashing success. So opening the attraction during the busy holiday season would be ideal, as demand for it would surely be off the charts. Anyway, let’s back to Critter Country.

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Which Critter Country Gift Shops Are Getting reimagined?

As mentioned above, Disney is closing Critter Country in order to transform the land’s two gift shops into themes more aligned with Tiana. First, The Briar Patch, the sole-remaining remnant of Splash Mountain’s Song of the South theme, will be reimagined into Ray’s Berets (named after Raymond the Firefly, who served as a guiding light, of sorts, for Tiana in frog form).

The gift shop will sell similar merchandise as it does currently, with selections including headware, apparel, accessories, toys and more, with Raymond and his firefly kin in the coziest cabin in Critter Country. Don’t expect a lot of Tiana or bayou-like merchandise, as Disney will likely stick with the generic stuff at this location.

With the exterior lighting package that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is expected to receive, and this gift shop being themed after a firefly, I expect the lighting package for Ray’s Berets, as seen in the concept art above, to be a nice complement to the neighboring attraction and a sight to see all its own, particularly at night.

At the other end of Critter Country, near the exit of the former Splash Mountain, is where Louis’ Critter Club (currently Pooh’s Corner) will be. Before you freak out, it’s important to note that only about a third of Pooh’s Corner will be consumed by Louis’, as part of the current shop and the entirety of the treats portion will remain as is.

Louis’ Critter Club will be themed after Louis, the trumpet-playing Alligator who befriended Tiana and Prince Neveen in the movie. The character was named Louis as a way to honor legendary jazz musician Louis Armstrong, who was born and raised in New Orleans.

Disney has stated that the gift shop will offer merchandise such as apparel, accessories, home decor and more, featuring Tiana and her critter friends. This is the shop I predict will have mostly Tiana-themed merch, with some generic park-wide stuff sprinkled in.

As you’ll see in the concept art above, there will be a lot of new design elements added to this shop. There are band posters plastered on the walls of the gift shop, in addition to the “break room” porch on the roof. If you zoom in, you’ll see instruments and other musical props.

Considering Louis played a trumpet and dreamed of being accepted by humans as a legitimate jazz musician (he did so at the end of the movie), I would expect to hear zydeco music emanating from the porch or gift shop in general. If you don’t know, zydeco music was created in rural Southwest Louisiana and is a blend of blues and rhythm & blues. Pull up your preferred music streaming app for examples.

In addition to the gift shops, Disney has stated that they’ll, “continue to invest in the improvements of the pathways and other areas to provide a better guest experience”. This could mean numerous things, but I honestly don’t anticipate huge changes as I doubt this project will be a long one.

How critter country closing will affect crowds

With construction projects mandating the closure of two of Disneyland‘s biggest people-eater attractions, Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion, capacity in the park has taken a hit in recent months. When high capacity attractions close, it sends a ripple effect throughout the park, causing otherwise lower wait times at other attractions and walkways to swell.

So the addition of Critter Country to the closure list is definitely going to affect crowds. If you’re visiting Disneyland in May, or potentially even June or July, prepare for crowds to feel more dense than they usually do. Of course, how dense they’ll get entirely depends upon how much of Critter Country will be closed to guests.

I seriously question whether Disney will close the entirety of Critter Country, as that’ll only make the current capacity issue much worse than it needs to be. If they do completely close it, I don’t expect it to begin until just after Hungry Bear Restaurant in order to keep the pathway to Galaxy’s Edge open in order to maintain guest flow.

In regards to Hungry Bear itself, I presume Disney will keep it open as it’s a high capacity quick-service restaurant and they definitely do not want to lose that. Additionally, Disney will likely use this time for a quick refurbishment of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, keyword being “quick” because, again…capacity.

I’m sure you’re sick of hearing about capacity at this point, but it has everything to do with this project and thus, this post. Capacity determines how many tickets Disney can sell in a particular day. Decreased capacity means less available tickets, which equates to less money for Disney.

My belief is this project won’t be a long one and Critter Country will presumably reopen prior to the peak tourist season in July, if not, definitely before the beginning of the Halloween season in late August. That’s also when I’m predicting the Haunted Mansion, with its Nightmare Before Christmas overlay intact, will also reopen.

Regardless of how much of the land closes, it’ll definitely have an effect on crowds. Not necessarily more people, as all this construction will keep some away, but because of the decreased capacity, the remaining walkways around the park will become dense. I doubt it’ll reach the levels of Main Street U.S.A after a fireworks showing, but it’ll be noticeable.

‘The Bayou’ - a missed opportunity?

I’m going to turn to commentary now and discuss some blue-sky ideas of my own. I’m sure I’m going to get pushback in the comments over this, but I feel like Disney maintaining the “critter” theme of the area is a missed opportunity.

Before we get too deep into this, realize that this isn’t meant to be perceived as hate or disdain for Critter Country or Winnie the Pooh, as I’m a fan of both. The original animated movie was a favorite of mine as a kid and the older I get, the more I appreciate the serene environment of Critter Country, with its obvious ties to Hundred Acre Wood.

My position has more to do with immersive, continuous theming than anything else. Walt Disney himself stated that he never wanted Disneyland to become a museum, but rather, continue to evolve and improve. Sometimes, that means replacing beloved attractions, lands and elements.

So what is my idea? From the start, when Disney first made the announcement of Tiana’s takeover of Splash, I hoped and prayed that Disney would do away with the Critter Country theme, Winnie the Pooh included, and simply rename the land, “The Bayou”, a mini-land acting as a natural extension of New Orleans Square.

Keep an open mind and think about it for a minute. Tiana’s gift shop, Eudora’s Chic Boutique, and restaurant, Tiana’s Palace, are both located in New Orleans Square proper, which in this scenario would act as New Orleans, the city. Tourists visiting Tiana‘s locations in the “city”, would then have to make their way to “The Bayou” in order to experience her tourist attraction, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, much like they do in actual New Orleans with bayou boat tours.

Over in “The Bayou”, the two aforementioned gift shops would receive the same re-theming they are getting now, with Hungry Bear becoming “Louis’ Gator Shack”, or something to that effect. Structurally, Hungry Bear wouldn’t need to change at all. Simply swapping out signage, a refreshed menu and music elements would be all that’s needed.

Now let’s address the yellow bear in the room and discuss what they would do with the Winnie the Pooh attraction and meet n’ greet. Personally, I would’ve loved to have seen the attraction reimagined into one themed after Raymond the Firefly, or even Mamma Odie. The ride vehicles could easily become fireflies in their current form and neither the track or layout would need to change. All that would be needed are new ride elements, lighting and props.

The neighboring meet and greet, where Winnie the Pooh and friends currently meet guests, would feature characters from the movie, such as Louis, Prince Naveen, Dr. Facilier, Tiana herself and perhaps even Mama Odie. Speaking of Mama Odie, she could takeover Pooh’s Corner. The storyline being she uses her magical powers to concoct delicious bayou treats for guests.

You can tell that I’ve thought a lot about this. As much as I would love to see these ideas become reality, I fully understand and acknowledge Disney’s desire to keep Winnie the Pooh featured in Disneyland, as that little, yellow bear is a merch-moving monster.

However, I have a potential solution. Over at Walt Disney World, their version of the Winnie the Pooh attraction is located in Fantasyland. At Disneyland, there isn’t much space in their Fantasyland, but they could remove the seldom-used Fantasyland Theatre and transform that area into a mini-land themed to the Hundred Acre Wood.

Considering pooh-bear can move merch like none other and is consistently one of Disney’s most popular IP’s, I think giving Winnie his own, dedicated land is more than justified. Plus, Disney would be doing what, exactly? Increasing capacity! It’s a win-win in my eyes.

Still, depriving Pooh fans of their favorite bear, even for the short-term, is a gamble Disney probably isn’t willing to make. I get it, I understand it, but I stand firm on my opinion that the current Critter Country should be transformed into “The Bayou”. Perhaps it will be in the future, but I’m not holding my breath.

Planning a trip to Disneyland? If you’re considering visiting in May, when Critter Country closes, read A Guide to Visiting Disneyland in May. For tips and advice regarding dining, read 10 Best Disneyland Tips: Dining. Additionally, be sure to keep up with ride closures and future projects by reading my 2024 Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar Guide. Lastly, check out my friends at Get Away Today for deals on Disneyland tickets, vacation packages, hotels and more.

I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Are you planning to visit Disneyland in May or even into the summer months? What is your opinion of the Critter Country makeover? Are you excited for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure? What do you think of my ideas about removing Critter Country and retheming it into The Bayou? Anything to add? Sound off in the comments below.

Our Experience at Great Maple Modern American Eatery in the Pixar Place Hotel

During the D23 Parks Panel event in 2022, Disney released a slew of details pertaining to the soon-to-be newly rechristened Pixar Place Hotel. Among them was a new location for Southern California favorite, Great Maple Modern American Eatery restaurant.

After waiting months and much to the delight of Disney fans, Great Maple opened its doors to guests on November 15, 2023, a few months prior to the official re-opening of the newly branded Pixar Place Hotel.

This is the fourth location for the brand, with its flagship in nearby Newport Beach and two others in Pasadena and San Diego, respectively. The menu is the same for the latter two and Anaheim locations, but differs slightly from the San Diego location.

Great Maple features a unique, all-day menu, meaning you can order from the brunch or cocktail menu no matter the time of day. Brunch favorites include French Toast Logs, Smoked Bacon Scramble, Cajun Shrimp Biscuit Benedict and the Fried Chicken and Maple Doughnuts dish.

If brunch isn’t your thing, you can order from their “mains” offerings, including Soda Pop Baby Back Ribs, Maple Pecan Crusted Salmon, Lemon Shrimp Pasta, in addition to a variety of sandwiches and burgers. And least we forget, they offer delicious, house-made doughnuts topped with maple and bacon, in addition to seasonal offerings.

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Restaurant Location, Entrances and Reservation Difficulty

As previously stated, Great Maple is located on the bottom level of Pixar Place Hotel, in the space previously occupied by the often loathed PCH Grill. There are two entrances to the restaurant, one from within the hotel and another from the sidewalk along Disneyland Drive. For those who are wondering, you do not need to be a guest of the hotel to dine here.

It doesn’t particularly matter which entrance you use, as the street-side entrance takes you through a small hallway before leaving you at the hotel’s interior entrance, anyway. I doubt the street-side entrance will be used often, as hotel guests are already inside anyway.

Furthermore, if you’re getting dropped off via an Uber or Lyft, your driver will likely drop you near the hotel lobby, as it’s a safer and less stressful option for them. Additionally, if you’re walking to the restaurant from the parks or Downtown Disney, you’ll likely use the backside entrance to the hotel before making your way to the restaurant’s interior entrance.

The only guests I can see who will utilize this entrance are those coming from the Grand Californian Hotel and Spa across the street, as the crosswalk places you just feet away from it, or off-property guests walking up from the southern end of Disneyland Drive or Katella.

It doesn’t seem that Great Maple has caught on fire in Anaheim just yet, as reservations are easy to come by right now. As I type this, reservations are available in one hour and continue throughout the day. Looking ten days out, they’re wide-open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. (By the way, reservations are made via the Disneyland website or app).

They’ve only been open a few months, so as time progresses and word gets out to more locals and out-of-state visitors, I wouldn’t be surprised to see that easiness subside a bit, though I don’t predict it’ll reach the level of difficulty of the likes of Napa Rose and Lamplight Lounge.

Despite that, if you’re keen on dining at Great Maple, I would still recommend securing a reservation, just in case. You never truly know what crowd patterns will be like at the resort these days and as previously stated, word will eventually get out about Great Maple. There’s always the possibility of sitting at their 360-bar if they’re full, which you can order food from and usually doesn’t have much of a wait anywhere you go.

Great Maple Interior, Our Entree Selections and Service

Great Maple features a stylish, brightly-lit interior with a modern-contemporary flare. Touches of gold and white can be found throughout, with a variety of blue and cream hues making up the fabric of the benches in the booths.

On the walls throughout the restaurant are portraits of some of Pixar’s legacy characters, such as Buzz Lightyear and Jessie in the back patio, and Woody and Bo Peep near the restaurants main entrance. The portraits are original drawings of the characters, drawn to appear as if the characters themselves posed for them. They’re done in the noir art style, which I found to be a nice touch, personally.

There’s tons of seating in the interior, with many booths and standard tables capable of hosting a variety of party sizes. The restaurant’s capacity expands with the addition of the open-air patio, with additional booths and table-top seating. This is where we sat. We appreciated the fresh air, soft sunlight and low traffic noise from Disneyland Drive.

One negative I will get into now is the volume of the music. In the main area of the restaurant, it wasn’t too bad, but I feel like they cranked up the speakers in the back patio to drown out the traffic noise. Personally (and this could just be because I just turned 40), I found the music to be way too loud, as it was difficult hearing my wife or our waitress speak.

The menu is all-day, meaning you can order breakfast, lunch, dinner or craft cocktails at any time throughout the day. We were here right around brunch time and already had a good idea of what we wanted to order. It’s a good idea to research the menu before going (it’s actually a tip from my “10 Best Disneyland Dining Tips” post).

Since it was my birthday, I ordered the Fried Chicken and Doughnuts plate ($27). If you order this, you’ll receive a hearty portion of two pieces of fried chicken and likewise, two of their popular maple bacon doughnuts, both of which come with a lite drizzle of maple syrup and powdered sugar.

While I had no issue clearing my plate, this entree could easily be split between two children (or even two adults if you don’t have huge appetites). I would’ve preferred to have had only one doughnut with the two pieces of chicken myself, but I digress. The chicken was fried to perfection, with absolutely no overly crunchy or burnt parts anywhere. I have no idea what their seasoning mix is, but it’s delicious, regardless.

Kisha ordered the Cajun Shrimp Biscuit Benedict ($27), another featured entree from their brunch menu. The plate is made up of cajun buttered shrimp, cooked arugula and two poached eggs on a white cheddar biscuit, topped with a cajun hollandaise sauce. Served with it is a sour cream and onion scalloped potato square.

She reports that there was nothing about the dish she didn’t like. The shrimp was cooked to perfection, which is generally hard to come by in a restaurant setting. Additionally, she felt there was just enough sauce, the entire dish was seasoned well and the biscuits weren’t dry at all. We both agreed that the dish would also be a good split option for families.

We also ordered a couple of cocktails with our meal. It may not have been noon yet but hey, time doesn’t count when you’re on vacation, right? I ordered the Maple Bacon Old Fashioned ($18) and my better-half ordered the Expresso Martini ($22).

The former is made with bacon washed bourbon, maple syrup and Angostura bitters, served with a piece of torched bacon. I’m no connoisseur of whiskey, but I’ve had my fair share of old fashioned cocktails and can say that while it isn’t the best one I’ve ever had, it was definitely unique, tasty and easily drinkable.

The latter of the above cocktails on the other hand, the Expresso Martini, was easily one of the best cocktails to ever grace my tastebuds. When Kisha let me try it, I immediately regretted not ordering it. This drink is made up of vodka, Kahlua, Baileys and Cafe Moto Expresso, topped with cinnamon powder and coffee beans. It’s expensive for sure, but it’s so good that it would be criminal not to try it at least once.

Finally, to top off my birthday brunch, it was suggested that I try their seasonal doughnut, which has the same frosted base as their usual maple bacon option, but instead of bacon, it was topped with Lucky Charms, which hit me right in the millennial feels.

You can purchase these doughnuts in a plate of three for $9, or order a single (not advertised on the menu), which is what I did. I forgot to look at what the price was for one doughnut, but I imagine it was around the $3 mark. The doughnut was just ok. The Lucky Charms were more of a novelty than anything, as most of them fell off as I ate it. If you’re deciding between this or the maple bacon, the choice is obvious.

Finally, let’s discuss the service. To put it simply, it was fantastic. Our waitress was so kind, friendly and prompt. Even when we came back two days later to sit at the bar for a quick drink, she walked by, immediately recognized us and spoke with us for a moment. I wish I could remember her name because she was truly amazing.

It wasn’t a busy day when we dined, so we received our orders promptly. The gentleman who brought out the food and drinks was also friendly and kept checking on us throughout our meal. After we had paid the bill, he surprised me with a bowl of ice cream for my birthday, and treated me to a solo rendition of the “Happy Birthday” song. Was it awkward? A little bit, honestly, but it was an awesome gesture nonetheless.

All told, before tip and after my Magic Key holder discount, our final bill was $109.43 for the two of us. Even by Disney standards, that was hard to swallow. We didn’t exactly budget for this, though, as we splurged on a few side options and cocktails, so it wasn’t completely surprising.

If you’re a Magic Key holder, definitely take advantage of the discount. Since this is a third-party restaurant, key holders receive a flat 10% no matter the key tier. Another way to bring down the price, as mentioned above, is to split entrees between children. The two we ordered, plus many more, are totally splittable.

Due to the prices, we both agreed that we wouldn’t eat here every time (or even every other time) we visit, but we do feel that the quality of the food, portion sizes and great service make it a worthy destination and help ease the pain of the menu prices a bit. In my book, Great Maple Modern American Eatery is a welcomed and fantastic addition to the resort restaurant line-up.

Planning a vacation to Disneyland? For information and advice on tickets, read 10 Best Disneyland Tips: Park Tickets. To learn about Advanced Dining Reservations and other aspects of dining such as Mobile Order and Mobile Walk-Up, read my 2024 Disneyland Dining Guide. If you’re visiting during Pixar Fest, read Pixar Fest 2024: 10 Things to Know or for Halloween visits, read Disneyland Halloween 2024 Guide.

I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Have you dined at Great Maple yet? What was your experience and which entree/cocktail did you try? If you haven’t dined here yet, are you planning to give it a try or does Great Maple not seem like it’s for you? Do you have another on or off-property restaurant to recommend? Sound off in the comment section below.

The 2024 Food & Wine Festival Sip and Savor Pass: 8 Things to Know

There have been several changes for the Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival in 2024. Among them are how to purchase and use your Sip and Savor Pass.

For those who are unaware, the Sip and Savor Pass is a coupon book of sorts that comes with a certain amount of allotments, of which you can redeem for tasting-sized portions of festival offerings.

While the Sip and Savor Pass isn’t new to the festival, there have been quite a few changes made, such as how to use it, how many allotments you receive, cost and more, as stated above.

In this post, I will discuss several aspects of the Sip and Savor Pass, eight to be exact, so you can make the best possible choice of whether or not it is worth it to you to purchase it.

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1) There are two versions of the Sip and Savor Pass this year

In prior years, the Sip and Savor Pass came with the same number of allotments - 8. For locals, this was great as they were able to spread out their redemptions throughout the length of the festival. For individuals who were only visiting for a single day, or those who only wanted to try a few of the offerings, eight was too much and thus, they wouldn’t purchase the pass.

In response to this, Disney changed it up for 2024 and are now offering two passes - the traditional pass with eight allotments and one with just four. This is great as it now enables those who are only visiting for a short time a way to save money. The prices for each pass are as follows:

• $61 for the eight allotment pass ($56 for Magic Key holders)

• $31 for the four allotment pass

No matter which pass you decide to go with, you can redeem your allotments anytime throughout the festival, which in 2024 is March 1 - April 22. After the conclusion of the festival, your allotments will expire and you will not receive a refund or credit.

2) Magic Key holders only receive ONE discount

While Magic Key holders do receive a few perks throughout the festival, discounts don’t seem to be prominently among them. In fact, the only discount you’ll receive is with the purchase of the eight allotment pass. You will not get a discount on the four allotment pass.

Additionally, be aware that if you do not purchase a pass and decide to purchase the offerings individually, you will not get a discount at the booths when doing so. Again, the only discount you will get is on the eight allotment Sip and Savor Pass ($56 for Magic Key holders).

Additionally, none of the third party stands at the festival offer discounts and as is the case with any other location on property, there are no discounts on alcohol.

If you’re a Magic Key holder and you purchase either Sip and Savor Pass, you’ll receive a special Magic Key lanyard. Additionally, there’s a shaded enclave between Avengers Campus and Cars Land with tables and chairs for key holders though during my visit, there wasn’t a cast member regulating it.

3) There are multiple locations where you can purchase Sip and Savor Passes

Most people will head for the Sip and Savor cart to purchase their passes. The cart is located in the Performance Corridor, just past Carthay Circle and across from the Grizzly Peak waterfall. If you’re here during the first couple hours of park opening, there won’t be much of a queue (we waited about five minutes).

However, if there is a significant queue at the cart, there are multiple alternatives that, since most people don’t know sell passes, rarely ever have an extensive wait. These include:

• Elias & Co. and Julius Katz & Sons, both of which are gift shops on Buena Vista Street

• Rushin’ River Outfitters, located at the Grizzly River Run exit

• Seaside Souvenirs, located in Paradise Gardens Park near Corn Dog Castle

• The Festival Merchandise Booth, located in the Performance Corridor, across from the former entrance to the Little Mermaid attraction

Additionally, I have heard rumors that if you’re a registered guest at the Grand Californian Hotel, you’ll be able to purchase a Sip and Savor Pass somewhere in the lobby, though I haven’t been able to confirm this. Furthermore, there are no locations in Downtown Disney or Disneyland Park that sells them.

4) New in 2024, redemptions are now digital

In prior festivals, the Sip and Savor Pass would come with eight physical, pull-off tabs on the sides and/or bottom of the pass. When redeeming one, you would break the tab off and hand it to the cast member taking your oder.

This year, and presumably going forward, the physical tabs are gone and the passes are now scannable. Now, to redeem one of your allotments, the cast member will scan the barcode on the back of your pass and you’ll enter your pass’s four-digit code on the credit card machine.

Assuming it goes through, the cast member will usually inform you of how many allotments you have remaining but if they don’t, it’ll also be printed on your receipt. Many people have complained online of this change but personally, I found it to be much more efficient than the tabs (and less wasteful, to boot).

5) There are two queues at the booths - one for ordering and another for pick ups

Throughout the festival at the marketplaces, you’ll find two queues - one for ordering your selections and another for pick ups. After you’ve paid for your selections or redeemed your allotments with the cast member, you’ll be given a receipt.

Take your receipt and find the pick-up queue for the same booth you ordered from (usually located on the opposite side) and hand your receipt to the cast member. You’ll then be given your selections. Keep in mind that some marketplaces share an order queue, but have separate pick-up queues.

PRO TIP: If you already know what you want to try at each marketplace, save yourself a lot of time in the order queues by ordering all of your selections at one marketplace. You can do this whether you’re using your pass or not. From there, you’ll only need to go through the pick-up queues at the individual marketplaces that offer the selections you’ve ordered.

Just be sure to keep your receipt because that’ll be the only proof you’ll have that you’ve paid for them. Cast members at each booth will mark items off on your receipt as you go. If you want to pick them up on another day, you can do that. Again, save your receipt.

6) Your Sip and Savor Pass can be used beyond the Marketplaces

There are a total of ten festival themed marketplaces scattered throughout the park, and your pass can be used at any of them. They are:

• “California Craft Brews” and “Cluck-a-Doodle-moo” in Paradise Gardens

• “Peppers Cali-Ente” in Grizzly Peak

• “Earth Eats” and “LA Style” in the Hollywood Backlot

• “Golden Dreams”, “Nuts About Cheese”, “Uncork California”, “D-Lish” and “Garlic Kissed” in The Performance Corridor

While many of the offerings served at the marketplaces are great, many don’t realize that there are many restaurants in DCA that are also taking part in the festival by offering their own special treats. A few of these include Award Weiners, Clarabelle’s, Willie’s Churros, Pym Test Kitchen and Lamplight Lounge (and more).

Furthermore, you can use your Sip and Savor Pass at these locations in the same way you would use them at the marketplaces. The only difference is you can’t order all of them in one place and just show your receipt. You’ll need to go to each restaurant individually.

It should be noted that when using your Sip and Savor Pass at these locations, you’ll be given a tasting-sized portion of the offering, not the full entree people paying separately would receive. We ordered at Willie’s Churros and Clarabelle’s and honestly, the portions we were given were more than sufficient, so fret not.

7) Allotments can NOT be used for alcohol

There are a number of marketplaces offering a variety of alcoholic beverages, including favorites such as beer, crafted cocktails, wine and mimosa flights. Unfortunately, you cannot use your Sip and Savor allotments for any of them. You can, however, use them for any non-alcoholic drinks.

I understand why Disney does this, as the $17 and up cocktails provide Disney with huge profit margins, but it would be nice if Disney sold an add-on to the Sip and Savor Pass that would be good for adult beverages. Then again, some could see three or four alcohol allotments as a challenge and for those who can’t handle their liquor, it could spell disaster for other guests. So perhaps it’s best to leave well enough alone.

8) Make sure you’re getting your money’s worth

The Sip and Savor Pass isn’t worth getting if you’re not using it correctly, as you can actually lose money with it. Assuming you’re not a Magic Key holder and you’re purchasing the eight allotment pass, that makes each allotment worth $7.62 ($61 divided by eight = $7.625). With a Magic Key discount, each allotment is worth $7 ($56 divided by eight = $7).

Meaning, in order to get the most value for your money, you’ll need to ensure that each item you order is at or above those dollar amounts. That presents a potential problem for non-key holders, as many of the desserts and non-alcoholic drinks are priced under that amount. Magic Key holders, though, will largely break even on those.

Thankfully, most food options (aside from desserts) are priced between $8 and $9. If you focus your allotments on those, you’ll maximize the value of your pass. Magic Key holders see the biggest savings, as they’ll save between $1 - $2 on each food offering.

Conversely, it gets even worse for those with the four allotment pass as, since there are no discounts, each allotment is worth $7.75, making the majority of desserts and drinks a loss (the sole exception being the Mickey Macaron, as it’s priced at $7.75) . If your intent is to purchase the four allotment pass, definitely use it only on food options priced between $8 - $9.

My advice would be to pay out of pocket for the desserts and drinks, and save your Sip and Savor allotments for food offerings. If you’re a Magic Key holder, you have a bit more leeway as you can go down to $7, which puts the desserts into break even or slight savings territory. Not to be repetitive, but either way, to get the most value, aim for items priced at the high end.

Planning a trip to the Disneyland Resort? For information and tips on tickets, read 10 Best Disneyland Tips: Park Tickets. To learn about Advanced Dining Reservations and Mobile Order, read my 2024 Disney Dining Guide. If you haven’t decided on dates yet, stay away from dense crowds by reading Dates in 2024 to Avoid Visiting Disneyland. Finally, stay up-to-date with ride closures by reading my 2024 Disneyland Refurbishment Schedule.

I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

Do feel that the Sip and Savor Pass is worth purchasing? Have you used Sip and Savor at past events? What do you think of the new scannable card over the physical tabs? Are you attending this year’s California Food and Wine Festival? Sound off in the comments below.

Disney Installs Test Models for New Entry Gate at Disney California Adventure (Photos Included)

Back in late January, this site reported Disney’s announcement of new entry gates, similar to the ones used at Disneyland Paris, being installed at both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure.

This new entry gate signifies Disney’s commitment to investing in the guest experience, making the entry process, which is currently somewhat painful to partake in, a more seamless experience.

There was no word as to an exact date of construction for these new gates, other than a statement from a company spokesperson proclaiming, “later this year (2024)”. Little did we know that they would begin the testing phase so quickly.

Sometime during the weekend of March 9, Disney installed two of the new entry gates at Disney California Adventure, Disneyland’s sister park. This bodes well with their prior statement that DCA would be the first to receive the upgrade.

The new gates are located on the far right side of the gate, if you’re facing the park directly. In the photo above, you can see a tablet-like device, with a camera in the shape of a hidden Mickey at the top. This is where guests will take their pictures when using their ticket or Magic Key for the first time.

Below that is the scanner where you’ll scan your digital ticket or MagicBand+ to gain entry. When the system verifies that the ticket is valid, the transparent gates in the background will automatically open, allowing the guest to enter.

This will be quite the change for Disneyland fans, as for years there have been cast members stationed at each entry point scanning tickets and taking pictures, along with having to navigate the old-school turnstiles.

Interestingly, the new gates will not have a cast member at each entry point. Instead, there will be just a handful stationed at the gates to assist guests with issues with their tickets or with the gate itself.

It should be noted that the gates you see in the photos in this post are test models of the actual thing and may not be the final design. It’s unclear how long these gates will be in the testing phase for, but when they’re done, the models will be removed and construction will begin.

Construction is still set to begin this year and will occur in phases to minimize guest impact. As of the publishing of this post, Disney California Adventure is still expected to receive the new gates first. The project is expected to be completed in early 2025.

While many are excited about this project, just as many are disappointed that Disneyland isn’t getting the gate-less entry that Walt Disney World has, but I believe I know the reason why.

Walt Disney World is its own city, with many of the parks being isolated from the city streets. This makes having a gate-less entry a fairly low-risk endeavor, with slim chances of trespassers walking into the park in the middle of the night.

At Disneyland, the resort is literally surrounded by city streets. Disneyland has cages that enclose their current entry when the parks are closed to prevent trespassers from getting in. If they indeed installed gate-less entry, all anyone would need to do is walk right in.

They would certainly be more convenient, for sure. No argument from me about that. However, they’re just not practical or realistic for Disneyland. Guests at Disneyland Paris love these gates, so I’m excited for the possibilities they’ll bring to the guest experience.

Pixar Fest 2024 at Disneyland: 10 Things to Know

Beginning April 26 and continuing throughout the summer months, the Disneyland Resort will be hosting Pixar Fest, a fan-favorite event that’s returning to the resort for the first time since 2018.

The event celebrates all things Pixar, as beloved stories and characters from the endeared Pixar Animation Studios come to life in a way that only Disney can offer.

Throughout the event, many all new features will be offered, in addition to returning favorites with new enhancements. If you’re a fan of Pixar and you’ve been thinking of booking a trip to Disney, here’s your sign.

So what is Disney planning to offer guests during Pixar Fest? Below, I’ll discuss and present ten special offerings you can expect to experience.

Here’s a few things to keep in mind about Pixar Fest 2024:

• The event runs daily from April 26 - August 4, 2024

• Unlike After Dark Events, Pixar Fest does NOT require a separate ticket

• The event primarily takes place in DCA, but Disneyland Park, Downtown Disney and Pixar Place Hotel will also be partaking

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1) Pixar Themed Food & Marketplaces

While Disney has yet to share specific details about food and drinks (aside from a returning favorite we’ll discuss below), rest assured there will be no shortage of Pixar themed treats, dishes, cold brews and cocktails.

The returning favorite I mentioned above is the Pixar Cake pictured above, which will be available to order at Plaza Inn in the hub adjacent to the main entrance of Tomorrowland.

In 2024, the Troubadour Tavern’s menu will get a makeover, offering many Pixar-inspired foods and beverages. Additionally, Paradise Garden Grill at DCA will again offer Coco-inspired dishes.

Beginning May 10, a marketplace with several food booths (similar to the one’s used during Food and Wine) will be set-up near the Hollywood Backlot in DCA and will offer foods inspired by several characters from movies such as Luca, Ratatouille, Soul and Inside Out.

It’s a bit of a head scratcher as to why Disney decided to hold off on this until mid-May, instead of making it available in time for the advertised April start date. Though, with Food and Wine ending on April 22 and Pixar Fest beginning four days later, it could just be a timing, as Disney will need those extra couple weeks to convert the booths to their new Pixar themes.

2) Pixar Pals Playtime Party at Fantasyland Theatre

Based on the description on the Disney Parks Blog, this appears to be a family-friendly dance party with a variety of Pixar characters appearing on the stage and photo opportunities scattered throughout the viewing area, though it’s hard to tell if the characters on stage will be cut-outs or not.

They do specify it as taking place, “throughout the day”. While that doesn’t necessarily guarantee it won’t take place during night hours, the fact that it’s mainly geared towards children does suggest it.

The concept art also suggests that it’ll be more of an interactive experience, rather than a stage show. The stands are empty and all of the action is taking place in the space between the stage and stands, which at Disneyland is typically a no-go area during performances.

It’s a shame Disney isn’t pulling the trigger on a stage show, as I feel one would’ve rounded out the offerings quite nicely and Disneyland is sorely in need of more live performances, but I digress. It should be great for the kids (or the young at heart) or at minimum, a great way to get out of the sun for a bit.

3) Photo Opportunities with Pixar Characters

No special event would be complete without special and/or rare character appearances, and Pixar Fest is no exception. You’ll likely encounter all the usuals, with characters from The Incredibles, Inside Out and Toy Story making their standard appearances throughout Pixar Pier. Some of Pixar’s furrier characters, such as Dug from Up, will likely appear in the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail area.

In Disneyland Park, you can expect Buzz Lightyear to appear in Tomorrowland and Miguel from Coco in his usual spot in Frontierland, near the Big Thunder Mountain attraction. We’ll be attending Pixar Fest in early May, so I’ll loop back to provide more character location details at that point.

We can also presume that Bing Bong (Inside Out) and Joe Gardner (Soul) will continue to make their seemingly random appearances in the lobby of Pixar Place Hotel (for how long is the question). Additionally, Ember and Wade (Elemental) will make their debuts in the park, no word on where yet, though.

4) Pizza Planet Truck Popcorn Bucket

Themed popcorn buckets have become quite the sensation at the resort in the last few years, with each new release being more sought after than the last. It isn’t unheard of to see massive queues snaking around Town Square and other areas of the park during the first few days of each new release.

For Pixar Fest, Disney will present a popcorn bucket molded into the shape of the Pizza Planet truck from the Toy Story franchise (or every Pixar movie ever created if you’ve been paying attention). There isn’t a doubt in my mind that it’ll be in high demand.

If you’re going to want to purchase this, I would make it a point to arrive early and make it your first stop of the day, especially if it’s within the first week of release. Unfortunately, resellers converge onto the parks during new releases so they can buy as many as they can and then sell on Ebay (and other sites) for grossly inflated prices. They’re usually the cause for the huge queues and quick sell-outs.

5) Pixar Decor Throughout the Resort

The Disneyland Resort is no stranger to decorating its parks to “plus” them during a special event or occasion. During Pixar Fest, there will be no shortage of brightly-colored displays and photo-worthy sculptures.

Between the parks in the esplanade, there will be a 25-foot tall sculpture of the iconic Pixar Ball. Additionally, there will be Pixar-themed installation in DCA that your MagicBand+ will be able to interact with. These were the only two mentioned in the press release, but there will likely be many more.

6) The New, “Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration” Parade at DCA

Disney California Adventure will host the centerpiece of Pixar Fest, “Better Together”, a new parade dedicated to the celebration of all things Pixar. It’ll be stacked with vibrant and colorful floats, and more than two dozen Pixar characters.

A few examples include:

• Red Panda Mei and her friends dancing to their favorite boy band; 4*Town

• Joe Gardner and 22 from Soul

• Luca, Alberto and Giulia from “Luca” spending time on the water’s edge in Portorosso

Additionally, the grand finale will include appearances from multiple legacy Pixar characters together, such as Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, Mike, Sulley, Woody, Jessie and Buzz Lightyear.

This a great news as it’s been many years since we’ve seen a proper day parade at DCA and since their parade route is longer and, historically speaking, draws lighter crowds, an ideal spot to watch the parade from generally isn’t hard to come by.

I’m not claiming you’ll be able to show up with minutes to spare and snag a great spot (though it isn’t unheard of), but you definitely won’t have to camp out hours ahead of time like you do for Magic Happens at Disneyland.

As far as vantage points go, I recommend a spot at the beginning or end. Where the parade begins will depend on if they’re running one or two parades daily but historically, parades at DCA begin near Paradise Garden Grill and end in Hollywood Land, adjacent to Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission Breakout. If there are two showings, the second showing will begin where the first showing ended.

If you choose a spot at the end of the route, keep in mind that the parade route at DCA is long and takes the performers roughly 20 minutes or so to get from one end to the other. It’s advantageous to be at the end, though, because by the time the parade route passes you, the crowds at the beginning and middle of the route would have largely dissipated.

If you’re looking to photograph the parade, I highly suggest the vantage point in the concept art above, or any spot in that space where you can place Pixar Pal Around and Incredicoaster as the backdrop. The downside to this area, is people tend to camp out here more-so than others, so you’ll need to arrive early to attain an ideal spot.

7) Club Pixar at the Hollywood Backlot

During the day-time hours, the Hollywood Backlot will feature multiple Pixar-themed backdrops for photo opportunities, games and even character encounters. At night, however, the area transforms into Club Pixar.

This is sure to be the counter to the family-friendly Playtime Party at Disneyland Park, with features such as a DJ dance party, live performances, themed food and specially crafted beverages (cocktails), this is an obvious attractant to teenagers and “Disney Adults”.

To those who remember, this is an obvious call-back to the past when the Hollywood Backlot hosted other nighttime dance parties like elecTRONica and Mad T Party, which celebrated the films Tron and the live-action Alice in Wonderland, respectively. Despite being hugely popular events, Disney hasn’t held one of these in the last decade, so it’ll surely be a welcomed addition.

8) Special Pixar Merch Throughout the Resort

Popcorn buckets aren’t the only pieces of merchandise that’ll drop for Pixar Fest. In fact, TONS of special and limited edition Pixar-themed and inspired merchandise will make their way into the gift shops in time for the event.

There hasn’t been much of any details released, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the usual suspects appear on shelves, such as Mickey ears and caps, spirit jerseys, LoungeFly bags, pins and more.

Additionally, you’ll also find plenty of collectable medallions themed to your favorite Pixar characters (for a limited time). A few examples of these characters include those from “Toy Story”, “A Bug’s Life”, “Elemental” and more.

9) Downtown Disney District

The festivities don’t end at the parks and resort hotels, Downtown Disney is also getting in on the action with vibrant decorations, photo opportunities, special merchandise collections and of course, Pixar-inspired menu items at select restaurants.

10) ‘Together Forever - A Pixar Nighttime Spectacular’ at Disneyland

‘Together Forever’ is a returning favorite from prior Pixar Fest events. It features fireworks (on weekends), colorful lasers, music and projections from the original productions and new additions, such as moments from “Luca”, “Onward”, “Elemental” and more.

As is the case with most firework/projection shows, there will be multiple viewing locations to choose from. The three most poplar include in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, between the Main Street U.S.A shops and in front of the “it’s a small world” facade (all of which will feature projections). Additionally, your MagicBand+ will react with lights and vibrations.

If you decide to go with the classic front-and-center view, note that it’s a risky choice, in that Disneyland’s fireworks are often canceled (though you’ll still get the projection portion of the show) and you’ll need to camp out at least an hour prior. However, the upsides are obvious, in that you’ll have a largely unobstructed view of the projections on the castle and the fly-overs that take place (likely to be the house from Up or Buzz Lightyear this year).

Further back between the buildings of Main Street is another popular option. Here, you can generally snag a great spot without having to camp out and you’ll be surrounded by the projections on the walls of the shops. You’ll still have a decent view of the castle, though it’ll be distant and you’ll likely have to contend with those who’re taller or have kids on their shoulders blocking your view.

You’ll often see recommendations for the area around the “it’s a small world” facade and the Rivers of America, but they’re typically a no-go for me. They’re definitely fairly stress-free spots, as there are rarely large crowds in these areas, but both pail in comparison to the castle and Main Street, in my humbled opinion.

10 Best Disneyland Tips: Food and Drinks

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

This post began with the intent of being a list of tips and tricks for multiple aspects of a Disneyland vacation. One I started outlining it, though, it quickly became apparent that it would be a massively long post that absolutely nobody would want to read through.

So instead, I decided to break up the would-be gigantic post into a series, giving each topic its own space and making it easier for you, the reader, to get the information you’re after.

This particular post will focus on food, drinks and the many restaurants of Disneyland. I will offer ten of the best tips and tricks that I feel would be most beneficial to you. Some will help to save you money, others may help you avoid losing money, but all with prove valuable.

So read on to discover ten tips for food, drinks and dining at the Disneyland Resort. If you haven’t yet purchased your park tickets, be sure to read the first post in this series as it offers ten tips for purchasing Disneyland tickets.

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1) To save money, split entrees at many Disney restaurants

It’s no secret, dining at the resort restaurants is expensive, especially for a family with multiple children. One way you can save money is to split entrees.

As expensive as they are, there are entrees at many Disney restaurants that could easily be split between two kids, or even two adults in some cases.

A few examples include:

• The Monte Cristo Sandwich at Cafe Orleans ($24)

• The House Gumbo at Tiana’s Palace ($17)

• The Fried Chicken plate at Plaza Inn ($20)

• The lobster nachos at Lamplight Lounge ($25)

• The Fried Chicken and Doughnuts at Great Maple ($25)

To my knowledge, Disney does not charge a fee to split plates (with the one exception being Napa Rose). So as you can see, it could add up to significant savings.

2) Know where you can order an adult beverage

Until fairly recently, the only way you could order alcohol at Disneyland was if you held a membership at Club 33. That changed in 2019 with the opening of Oga’s Cantina in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Shortly thereafter, the Blue Bayou restaurant began serving select cocktails and wine. Finally, in 2022, three additional Disneyland restaurants saw alcoholic drinks added to their menus; River Belle Terrace, Carnation Cafe and Cafe Orleans.

At Disney California Adventure, you never had to look too hard to find alcohol, as just about every restaurant, both sit-sown and quick serve, offers it in some form.

The difference between the two parks, though, is your ability to take your drink with you. You’re permitted to walk around the park with a beer in your hand at DCA but in Disneyland, you must finish your drink before leaving the restaurant.

Additionally, at Disneyland, you cannot order drinks exclusively. You MUST order a food item with it. The only exception to that rule is at Oga’s Cantina, as it’s more of a bar with only a couple food options.

3) Take advantage of the picnic area in the Esplanade

One of the main questions people have about visiting Disneyland is, are they allowed to bring food into the parks? The answer is yes, for the most part. You cannot bring glass containers or coolers in, but wrapped sandwiches and the like in your backpack is perfectly fine.

To the left of the entry gates to Disneyland Park, behind tall shrubbery, is a semi-private picnic area. It’s free to anyone to use. So if you are bringing your own food, this a great spot to take a break from the parks and enjoy your lunch.

4) Don’t forget to make reservations - 60 days out, if possible

There are many quick service restaurants in the parks where you won’t have to worry about this, but if you’re set on dining at a table service restaurant, you’ll likely need to secure a reservation or you’ll be out of luck.

Disney allows you to make advanced dining reservations up to 60-days out at their most popular restaurants. A few of these get snagged up quickly, even at the 60-day mark. So it’s important to be logged into your Disney account and be ready to go.

A few examples of the hard-to-get reservations include:

• Lamplight Lounge

• Blue Bayou

• Oga’s Cantina

• Napa Rose

• Carthay Circle

• Trader Sam’s Tiki Bar

How hard they will be to get largely depends on the time of year you’ll be visiting. If you’re visiting between January and early March, it’ll be easier. In the summer or holiday months, though, the demand is higher and much more competitive.

You could always try the easier-to-get restaurants, where last minute ADR’s are typically easy to come by. These include Wine Country Trattoria, Jazz Kitchen and River Belle Terrace, all of which are solid options.

However, if you’re dead set on a particular restaurant and you haven’t been able to snag a ADR, there is one more thing you can try, which leads me to number 5…

5) Utilize ‘Mobile Walk-Up’

Mobile Walk-Up is a feature in the Disneyland App that enables you to join a virtual wait list at select Disney restaurants that don’t have available reservations.

Virtually every Disney restaurant that accepts ADRs offers this option. Keep in mind that at Lamplight Lounge, this is only an option at the Boardwalk Dining area of the restaurant between the hours of 11:30am and 4:00pm.

What you’ll do is head to the restaurant you want to dine at. As you’re approaching it, open the Disneyland app and go to the ‘Dining Availability’ tab.

Go to the restaurant’s page on the app and select, “Join Waitlist”. If you’re not close enough to the restaurant, it won’t let you join until you are.

Once you’ve joined the list, you’ll be notified through the app when a table becomes available. Try not to the stray too far from the restaurant as you only have a short time to claim your table.

6) Don’t purchase overpriced bottles of water

Bottles of water at the parks are often priced at $5 or more for a single bottle of Dasani. That same bottle at the grocery store would cost you $1.50 or less.

It simply doesn’t make economic sense to purchase these. If you’re looking for ways to save money during your trip, definitely start here.

Bringing your own reusable water bottle, such as a Hydro Flask, will save you tons of money as there are water bottle refill stations throughout both parks.

Additionally, you can get free water at any quick service eatery by simply asking a cast member. The cups are small, but you don’t have to pay for them and you can go back as many times as you like, even if you’re not purchasing anything.

7) Don’t skip the resort hotel restaurants

With so many options at both parks and Downtown Disney, many don’t realize that the resort hotels offer their own dining options, with many of them being popular amongst locals.

Trader Sam’s Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel and Villas if one of the most popular options for drinks. Though in my humble opinion, the food isn’t worth it.

My personal favorites include the GCH Craftsman Grill and Hearthstone Lounge, both at the Grand Californian. The former is fairly easy to get an ADR but if their aren’t any available, you could always sit at the bar. The latter doesn’t offer reservations but almost always has an open table or barstool.

8) Definitely use ‘Mobile Order’ to save time

Mobile Order has been a game changer for park-goers. It enables you to order/pay for your food and select your pick up time in advance. When your time comes, simply head to the restaurant’s pick up window to retrieve your order.

Virtually every quick service restaurant in the parks offer this feature, including Cocina Cucamonga, Lucky Fortune Cookery, Tiana’s Palace, Bengal BBQ and Pym’s Test Kitchen.

Remember that you’ll need the Disneyland app, plus a Disney account and stored payment method in order to use the Mobile Order feature. You can read more details about it in my 2024 Disneyland Dining Guide.

9) Plan out what you want to eat prior to going to allow for better budgeting

The Disneyland website is a gold mine of information, especially when it comes to its dining options. You’re able to see restaurant names, precise locations, menu offerings, nutrition information, prices, and more.

After deciding where you want to eat but prior to leaving for your trip, go to the website and research the menus at the restaurant you’re wanting to dine at.

I’m not saying you need to decide exactly what you want to eat, but going through the menus will give you a general idea of what it’ll cost to dine there and allow you to budget better.

10) Purchase ‘Sip and Savor’ passes during festivals

There are three food festivals throughout the year, all of which take place at Disney California Adventure. They are Lunar New Year Celebration, the Food & Wine Festival and the Festival of Holidays.

One of the main draws of the these festivals are the dozen or so individually themed marketplaces, each offering their own food options in individual sized portions.

The Sip and Savor passes come with digital allotments of four or eight. You can use your allotments for any entree or non-alcoholic drink option at the booths and select restaurants.

Remember, the higher priced the food or drink option you want is, the greater the savings. For example, the price for the eight allotment Sip and Savor pass during the 2024 Food and Wine Festival costs $61 (or $56 for Magic Key holders). That makes each allotment $7.62 each (or $7 each for the Magic Key price).

With most food options priced between $8 and $10, the savings are obvious. Due to this, it doesn’t make sense to use an allotment for a drink, which are usually priced at or under the $7 mark. It’s cost effective to use them for the higher priced items.

BREAKING: Disneyland Magic Keys Going On Sale Again

On the morning of March 4, 2024, Disney made the surprising announcement that Magic Keys, Disneyland’s post-covid annual pass, would go on sale once again on March 5, no earlier than 9am.

It’s surprising because Magic Keys just went on sale a couple months ago on January 10. In prior years, there were much longer gaps between sales and at least a week’s notice. This time, Disney is giving less than a 24 hour heads up.

Additionally, Disney announced a few new features to the buying process that’ll hopefully improve the customer experience. That’s good because the last few sales were disasters. Especially the one on January 10.

Due to many online glitches, potential Magic Key buyers who were stuck in an hours-long virtual queue were never given the opportunity to complete their purchases. I know because I was nearly one of them.

I waited in the virtual queue, literally staring at the screen so it wouldn’t go black, for nearly six hours before I was finally let into the checkout area. Then, due to a glitch in the checkout process, I nearly missed my chance. Thankfully, the Disney Gods were kind as I was able to get back in to buy my Magic Key.

Many, however, were not that lucky. They would wait for many hours longer than I did, all to be told later that evening that sales would be paused until the next morning. Then, shortly after sales resumed on January 11, all Magic Keys would sell out. Leaving many people out in the cold.

For the sale event on March 4, there will be a few welcomed changes that’ll make the virtual queue and buying process a little less anxiety inducing. They are:

• The “Notify Me” option that was introduced during the Star Wars Nite virtual queue. This will be the first time that this option will be available for Magic Key sales. Simply provide an email address and Disney will notify you when it’s your turn to enter the checkout area.

• The waiting room will notify potential buyers of their chances of being able to buy a key by updating them on Magic Key availability. Essentially, if you’re aiming to buy a Believe Key, but they sell out while you’re in the virtual queue, you’ll be notified so you’re not waiting around for nothing. This feature was somewhat in effect during the January 10 sale, but it wasn’t updated all that often. Hopefully it’ll work better this time around.

• The checkout process will better remind customers that they need to be logged into their Disney account in order to see payment options for Magic Keys..

What You’ll Need to Do

I cannot stress this enough. You need to be logged into your Disney account PRIOR to when sales begin. Disney states “no earlier than 9am”, but few know that you can actually enter into a virtual waiting room of sorts starting at 8:45am.

Disney doesn’t advertise it, but it exists. Be sure to take advantage of that extra 15 minutes because it could literally mean the difference between buying a Magic Key and going without.

Furthermore, don’t try to enter the virtual queue directly from within the Disneyland website. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but going that route nearly cost me my chance.

Instead, go to Google and search, “Disneyland Magic Key Sale”, right at 8:45am. Click or tap on the first non-sponsored link from Disney you see, and that’ll take you straight into the virtual queue.

Once you’re in, you have no choice but to be patient. You could get into the purchasing area in less than an hour, or you could end up waiting all day. Getting into the virtual queue early increases your chance of a short wait, but it’s far from a guarantee.

To see current pricing, benefits and tiers of Disneyland’s Magic Key program, go here. Good luck to you.

A Guide to Visiting Disneyland in August 2024

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

August is an interesting month to visit the Disneyland Resort. Crowd patterns are difficult to nail down, refurbishments are up in the air and of course, the wildcard for August 2024, Halloween season kicks off for the first time ever!

On the other end of the spectrum, the weather, while warm (it is August, after all) is still fairly comfortable, single day ticket prices start to come down in price, and for Imagine and Enchant Key holders, the summer blockout period begins to lift.

So is August a good month to visit Disneyland? How crowded will the parks be? Which attractions will be closed for refurbishment? I discuss all of these topics and more in this post. Let’s get into it!

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Check out these products I recommend for a trip to Disneyland in August…

• Element Equipment 50L Travel Duffel w/ Shoulder Straps

• Moleskin Blister Protection

• Owala Insulated Stainless Steel Water Bottle

• Sun Bum SPF 30 Sunscreen Spray

• Mickey and Minnie Mouse Ears (way more affordable than the ones at the park)

Anaheim Weather in August

As stated above, the weather in Anaheim in August gets on the warmer side, but it maintains a more comfortable level of warmth due to the low humidity. In fact, August is one of the months with the lowest humidity, with the chances of mugginess being 10% or less each day.

The average highs and lows are 86 and 66 degrees. Some days get into the low 90’s but rarely, if ever, exceed 94 degrees. A common rebuttal from locals to visitors complaining about the heat is, “it’s more of a dry heat, though”. Honestly, it’s hard to argue that logic once you’ve been there.

If you’re not a fan of rainy days then you’ll definitely love August as it’s one of the driest months in Anaheim. The chance for rain throughout the entire month remains at 2% with a comparatively low chance of thunder and lightening, leading to regular periods of clear, blue skies.

August also brings about longer than usual periods of daylight, though the amount you get decreases as the month progresses. The average for the month is 13.4 hours of daylight but by the time the end of the month arrives, that amount would have decreased by 55 minutes.

All that said, days are consistently warm but nights benefit from that cool coastal air and rarely exceeds 70 degrees. Despite it being summer, it would be wise to pack a light hoodie or sweater with your warm weather clothing (check out this great 50L travel duffel bag).

Is Disneyland Crowded in August?

In terms of crowds, August is chaotic. Crowd patters jump from one extreme to another throughout the month, making it difficult to pin down.

The crowds in the first half of the month will likely be as dense as they were in July, but that will start tapering off as we progress into the middle of the month as Orange County and Los Angeles school summer breaks come to a close.

However, the offset will be minimal as at around the same time, the blockout periods for the Imagine and Enchant Keys will begin to lift. This is when what I call the late afternoon “Locals Swell” returns.

Meaning, the first half of the day will likely receive the usual amount of crowds but as locals start getting out of school and work for the day, they converge onto the parks in the late afternoon or early evening, causing a swell in crowd levels.

To make matters worse, these key holders, I believe, make up the majority of local Magic Key holders, and they’ve been completely blocked out of the park since mid June. That’s a lot of pent-up demand, so be sure to compare your dates to those of the Magic Key calendar.

Another wildcard for this month is the fact that the Halloween season officially kicks off in the second half of August for the first time ever. This will definitely bring in the locals, as they’re the main demographic Disney targets for the special food and merchandise offerings.

As we’ll discuss in more detail below, the weekdays in the second half of the month are priced at their lowest - $104. Disney prices low demand days at these price points to entice more people to visit, and that’s exactly what I think will happen.

Many bargain hunters likely committed to a self-imposed lockout of the parks throughout the summer due to high prices but now that they’re coming down again, those same bargain hunters could hit the parks on those lower demand days en masse.

Finally, another aspect to consider is the Oogie Boogie effect. By that, I mean Oogie Boogie Bash, Disney California Adventure’s nighttime Halloween party.

With Halloween starting in August, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Oogie Boogie nights added to the August calendar. Since DCA closes early to regular park guests on those nights, this often causes a swarm of people to migrate over to Disneyland Park.

So in addition to locals causing a swell in the evenings, you’ll also have guests park hopping from DCA to contend with.

All that said, I would still recommend booking the weekday dates of 8/19 - 8/22 or 8/26 - 8/29 as your best chance of lower crowds. Magic Key holders may (somewhat) have free rein again, but locals are back in school and the peak tourist season has come to a close.

Single Day Ticket Prices + Magic Key Blockouts

For those who’re unaware, Disney prices their single day tickets on a dynamic pricing structure. Meaning, the price you’ll pay for a specific day is driven by predicated demand based off of Disney’s historic data.

For example, generally, weekend dates are always going to be priced higher than weekday dates as they tend to be busier. This allows Disney to maximize profits on busy days, while padding the parks with more guests on slower days by pricing them lower.

In August, the price range for adult single day, one park tickets is $104 - $194. All days priced at $104 are weekdays in the second half of the month, they are 8/19 - 8/22 and 8/26 - 8/29.

There are only two days priced at the $194 mark, they are 8/3 and 8/10. Both of these are Saturdays. All Fridays and Sundays in the month vary between $169 and $184, with weekdays in the first half of August varying between $134 - $169.

The child single day, one park ticket is priced between $98 - $183 and follows the same general high and low pattern as the adult prices above.

Keep in mind that while the $104 price may sound enticing (and it is), but that low price doesn’t always equate to a slower day, crowd wise. Disney prices these days lower to entice more people to visit. If a large group of bargain hunters buy tickets for one of those days, it’ll be a busier than normal day.

To avoid that, it’s sometimes worth it to go on a day where the price is closer to the middle range. High demand days are typically always busy while lower demand days could see an influx from the lower price. It’s possible to get around that by going on a day where crowds will be closer to neutral.

If you’re a Magic Key holder, or you’re hoping to be one by August, you’ll need to be mindful of the blockout calendar. In August, the blockout periods for Imagine and Enchant Keys that have been in effect since mid-June begin to lift.

Inspire Key holders, of course, need not be concerned about blockouts as you have none in August. Believe Key holders, the only day in the month you can’t visit the parks is 8/3 (a Saturday).

Enchant Key holders will get first crack at the parks since your summer blockout period lifts on 8/5. You will still be blocked 8/1 - 8/4 and then again on 8/10, 8/17, 8/24 and 8/31, all of which are Saturdays.

Imagine Key holders, you’ll be blocked for the first eleven days of the month. Your first eligible day to enter the parks will be 8/12. After that, you’re blocked on 8/16 - 8/18, 8/24 - 8/25 and 8/31. All of these are weekends and/or Fridays.

Hotel Rates for August

Which hotel you’re going to stay at for your Disneyland vacation is a big decision. There are many hotels surrounding the parks, including three Disney owned properties, all of which vary in quality, rates and amenities.

The three Disney owned hotels - The Grand Californian, The Disneyland Hotel & Villas and Pixar Place, are undoubtedly going to be most expensive hotel options.

Outside of that, there are dozens of what are called Good Neighbor hotels that surround the resort, namely on South Harbor blvd and Katella ave. South Harbor runs parallel to the resort on its east side (the main entrance), while Katella runs south along the backside of DCA.

The following rates are average nightly rates in August for these hotels. Remember, these are averages and they’ll vary based on too many variables to keep proper track of. These are just examples of what you can expect to pay in August:

• The Grand Californian Hotel and Spa, Disney’s most expensive property in California, has an average nightly rate of $779.45 for a standard view and $1,368 for club level of the same view.

• The Disneyland Hotel & Villas, the original Disney hotel, fares a little bit better with an average rate of $576.52 for a studio in the Villas Tower, $589.09 for a standard view room and $896.28 for a club level room of the same view.

• Disney’s newest addition to the line up, Pixar Place, is the most budget friendly of the three with an average rate of $457.66 for a standard view and $705.14 for club level.

The Good Neighbor hotels are a bit harder to track, as there are many of them and I have to rely on third party websites to obtain an acceptable average.

If you’re looking for the most budget friendly options and you’re not all that concerned with amenities, there are four hotels within walking or shuttle distance that average under $125 per night, they are Motel 6 Maingate, Anaheim Astoria, Kings Inn Anaheim and Solara Inn and Suites.

If you’re wanting better amenities but you’re not looking to re-finance your house to do it, there are several properties under $250 a night that offer such, they are the Howard Johnson Hotel and Water Playground, Tropicana Hotel and Suites, Grand Legacy at the Park and The Anaheim Hotel. All of these are within close proximity of the resort’s east entrance.

That said, the majority of which that sit between the I-5 overpass and the Katella intersection run between $200 and $300 per night, with some reaching as high as $360. Of course, there are higher end hotels located nearby such as the Westin and Courtyard Marriott that often reach the $500 mark.

Halloween Season at Disneyland

For the first time ever, Halloween season at the Disneyland Resort officially begins on Friday, August 23. This is in direct response to the overwhelming popularity of the holidays at the park.

There hasn’t been any details released by Disney about what to expect this year, as those are typically announced in June. However, we have plenty of historical data to go off of that’ll give us a general idea.

For starters, Disney’s nighttime Halloween party, Oogie Boogie Bash, will certainly return in 2024. With the addition of August in the timeline, I expect expanded dates and potentially more offerings during the hard ticket event.

Halloween decor is also a given. In Disneyland Park, Main Street U.S.A and parts of Frontierland are generally the only two lands that receive decor. Additionally, we’ll also have the return of Haunted Masnion Holiday with a newly expanded queue and exit.

At DCA, the decor runs throughout much of the park, including and especially at Cars Land, which transforms into Radiator SCREAMS. If you’ve never seen Cars Land during Halloween time, it’s an attraction all its own and will have you exploring every nook and cranny of the land.

There are Halloween overlays at select attractions in DCA as well, including Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and Mission Breakout. Additionally, there are sure to be dozens of special food, treat and drink offerings, along with limited edition merchandise.

I’ll be sure to update this post when more information becomes available. For now, be sure to give my 2024 Halloween at Disneyland guide.

Disneyland Attraction Refurbishments in August

The Haunted Mansion, which is currently closed while it undergoes an expansion of its grounds, queue area and exit, will likely be down for the first few weeks of August, but I expect it to reopen in time for the Halloween season kickoff on August 23.

Another closure that’ll be a sure thing is Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. While Walt Disney World’s version has received a summer 2024 opening, ours is taking longer due Disney closing it months later and workers running into issues. I don’t expect ours to open anytime before November.

Beyond that, nothing is certain as Disney doesn’t release refurbishment information sooner than 45 days out. A persistent closure that occurs often during the hot summer months is the Monorail, though.

Unfortunately, the Monorail wasn’t built with air conditioning in mind so when it gets too warm, usually around the mid-day mark, Disney temporarily closes the Monorail for guest safety. Once it cools back down, they’ll reopen it.

As August approaches and Disney releases more information, I will update this post. Be sure to read and save my 2024 Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar, as I relentlessly keep it up to date with ride closure and future project information.

Disneyland Halloween 2024 Guide

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

Visiting Disneyland during normal times of year can feel daunting enough. Throw in the Halloween element and things go to a different level entirely.

Second only to the Christmas season, Halloween at the Disneyland Resort has grown in popularity year over year and is showing no signs of slowing down.

We have been to Disneyland during the Halloween season multiple times and can profess to how awesome the entire experience is.

From Oogie Boogie Bash at DCA to the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland proper, we’re here for it all.

If you’ve never been to Disneyland during Halloween, this guide is for you. In it, we cover what to expect, dates, special events and more. Let’s get into it.

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When Is Halloween Begin At Disneyland?

Halloween season at the Disneyland Resort isn’t just a one day celebration on the holiday itself. Rather, Disneyland celebrates Halloween throughout multiple months.

In years’ past, Disneyland would kick off its Halloween season in early September, usually just after Labor Day. In 2024, however, you’ll have even more time to enjoy the spooky season, as it’ll now begin on August 23, 2024 (Friday).

This expansion of dates is a testament to the growing popularity and demand for more Halloween at the resort. In what was once considered a slow time of year at the parks, it has morphed into the busiest, rivaling even July.

While Disney hasn’t announced it yet, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Oogie Boogie Bash dates also be expanded, as it’s a way for Disney increase profits without the bad press of high price increases.

Is Halloween At Disneyland Crowded?

The Halloween season USED to be a fairly slow time at the Disneyland Resort. It was because of that why that timeframe was our go-to for a relatively crowd-free experience but as stated above, that’s no longer the case.

The Halloween season, largely due to the annual Oogie Boogie Bash event, has experienced massive growth and an increase in popularity over the last few years. This began prior to the covid closure, but has exploded since.

This is why much of the event has migrated over to Disney California Adventure. Disneyland Park typically sees heavier crowds than DCA, Halloween or not, so the shift was one of many tactics taken to boost sagging attendance there.

Generally, the closer to Halloween it gets, the more dense the crowds. If your goal is to enjoy the Halloween season without heavy crowds, I would aim for dates in the first ten days of September, or potentially even weekday dates in the latter half of August.

That period, namely the first ten days of September, has managed to maintain its status as one of the least busiest times of year at the resort. It’s towards the end of the month and into October when crowd levels begin to rise exponentially.

The Oogie Boogie Bash Variable

An important element to the Halloween season that will have an overall effect on crowd patterns at the resort is the mega-popular annual event, “Oogie Boogie Bash”, at Disney California Adventure.

In 2024, the event will likely be held on nights throughout the months of August, September and October, typically with one to three days between each. On nights with a scheduled event, DCA will close early to regular park guests at 6pm.

On days when there’s a scheduled event, the majority of the crowds are across the esplanade at Disneyland, with DCA seeing minimal crowds.

The reason for this is simple. Since DCA closes early on bash nights (6pm), most visitors don’t want to waste a full-day ticket on a partial day at the park. There are no discounts for these days.

Generally, visitors that are in DCA on a bash-night are either locals, Magic Key holders (or both) or have the park hopper option on their ticket. When DCA closes, they just hop over.

The opposite, however, is true for non-bash nights. California Adventure will see higher crowd levels since those guests have a full day available to them.

If you purchased the park hopper option (or are a Magic Key holder) and you’re NOT attending the bash, I recommend beginning your day at DCA to take advantage of the lower crowds.

Around 3pm, when they start letting bash ticket holders in, is when you should consider heading over to Disneyland Park (or back to your hotel for a break).

If you DON’T have the park hopper option, I recommend spending your day at Disneyland to take advantage of the full day. The hours you’d be losing at DCA far outweigh the lower crowd levels.

Normally, I don’t purchase the park hopper option for myself and usually advise against it. One of the exceptions to both of those is during the Halloween season, when your dates coincide with Oogie Boogie Bash events.

Oogie Boogie Bash

A big reason for Disney’s success during Halloween is the annual event, Oogie Boogie Bash. It’s held semi-nightly at DCA throughout the entirety of the season, concluding with the final bash on October 31st.

The bash is five hours long (6pm-11pm) and features multiple exclusive attractions, such as villain treat trails, ‘Villains Grove’, rare character appearances, ‘Fightfully Fun Parade’ and more.

In 2023, tickets to the event sold out in record time. I would expect much of the same for 2024 so if you’re planning to attend, keep your finger on he pulse (be sure to follow our Facebook page as that is where i’ll announce when tickets go on sale)

If you’re expecting a scary Halloween party, this isn’t it. It’s more about the overall vibe and celebration of Halloween rather than the scares. If scares are your thing, drive north to Universal or Knott’s.

Oogie Boogie Bash is appropriate for all ages so if you have littles, this won’t exclude them. Far from it, actually. What kid wouldn’t relish the opportunity to trick or treat with their favorite characters?

I wrote a comprehensive guide detailing our experience at Oogie Boogie Bash 2022. If you’re considering attending (or just mildly curious), be sure to give it a read at the link below.

READ: “Oogie Boogie Bash 2023: Ticket Prices, Villains Grove, Characters, Our Experience and More”

Attraction Overlays

Each season, select attractions throughout both parks receive Halloween themed overlays to help celebrate the festivities and make it an even more unique experience for visitors.

These include:

• Haunted Mansion

• Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission BREAKOUT!

• Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree

• Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters

We’ll start with the Halloween flagship attraction; Haunted Mansion. Each year, Disney converts it into, “Haunted Mansion Holiday”, where characters from the beloved film, “Nightmare Before Christmas”, take over.

This has proven to be mega popular over the years and the queue often reflects that. It isn’t uncommon to see seventy to eighty minute wait times and Genie+ return windows being hours out.

If this is something you’d be interested in, I suggest either rope dropping it, making it your first Genie+ selection or try to hitting it just before park closing (if you’d want to avoid the long wait, that is).

At DCA, one of their biggest draws is Mission Breakout’s conversion to, “Guardians of the Galaxy - Monsters After Dark”. The ride itself is generally the same, but the plot differs from the original.

The plot for ‘Monsters’ takes place after the events of Mission Breakout, when the Guardians successfully escape the Collector's grasp. Groot, however gets left behind and now you’re tasked with sacrificing your safety - or assisting Rocket by distracting the monsters while he saves Groot.

The monsters version of ride is fun. It has its moments and features just as many drops as Mission Breakout, but to me it isn’t as exciting as the original. In this version, you’re without the classic rock songs and instead, are forced to listen to a what I assume to be a generic death metal song that just sounds like noise.

The classic rock songs are a huge part of why I and so many others love that ride so much. I appreciate the original storyline and effort they put into it but for my money, I’ll take Mission Breakout over ‘monsters’ any day.

Halloween Decor & Character Outfits

Throughout the season, both parks at the Disneyland Resort are adorned in orange and black Halloween decor and many characters are dressed in their favorite (not-so) spooky costumes.

The majority of the characters you’ll see adorned in Halloween garb are Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto and Chip n’ Dale. They’ll likely be in their usual spots within Town Square and Buena Vista Street, respectively.

Disneyland Park

The majority of the resort’s decorations will be at Disneyland Park. To set the tone of things to come, above the turnstiles at the entrance are each of the Fab Five represented in pumpkin form.

Once inside the park, you’ll also take notice of the Main Street Train Station adorned in decor and below that, a Halloween version of Floral Mickey usually makes an appearance.

Past the tunnels and into Town Square, each building and lighting fixture is lined with pumpkins, bows, orange and black garland and floral.

In the center of Town Square is the massive and ever popular Mickey pumpkin head photo-op.

*Tip: Most people want their picture taken here at night when everything is lit up. The line will be HUGE, but it goes by fairly quickly. So don’t let it scare you off.

If you’re leaving before nightfall and still want your photo in front of the pumpkin, do it mid-day when the coastal haze has given way to blue skies.

If your aim is to get your photo at night and with as little people around as possible, save it for closing. Main Street stays open one hour past official closing time and this includes the pumpkin!

A lot of people would have headed back to their hotels by this point so your chances of a people-free photo with the pumpkin are decent. Any other time of day/night…forget about it.

As you move past Main Street, Halloween decor begins to wane. With the exception of Frontierland, you won’t much (if any) decor in the themed lands; including and especially Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Frontierland has perhaps the coolest of all the Halloween decor in the park; The Halloween Tree. You can’t miss it. It’s literally the only tree in the land with decoration and lights.

The tree is a tribute to Ray Bradbury and his 1972 novel of the same name. He was a huge proponent of Disney theme parks, including and especially EPCOT Center in Florida.

Also in Frontierland, near the Rancho del Zocalo restaurant, are decorations celebrating Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead). The vibrant colors give life to an otherwise underutilized part of the park.

As stated above, don’t expect decor (or even a mention of Halloween) in Galaxy’s Edge. This is to preserve the commitment to theming as Disney wants you to feel like you’ve actually in the Star Wars universe.

Disney California Adventure

DCA takes a heavy ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ vibe as it pertains to its decor on Buena Vista Street (for obvious reasons). You’ll find a silhouette of Oogie Boogie himself above the entrance on both sides.

Like its big brother park across the esplanade, DCA’s decor come to life in a big way at night. Green and purple lighting effects amplify the Halloween spirit and gives everything an enjoyably spooky vibe.

Just down the way from Buena Vista Street, though, is where you’ll find the undisputed champion of Halloween decor - Cars Land.

Cars Land goes above and beyond from simple Halloween decor. In fact, you could argue that Radiator Springs goes through a full-blown overlay and gets transformed into a literal Halloween-town.

Between the spider-car in front of Flo’s V8 Cafe, the green/purple lighting effects on the Cadillac Range mountains of Radiator Springs Racers, the Cozy Cone Motel going through a ghostly transformation and more, the town (temporarily) becomes, ‘Radiator Screams’.

The sheer level of detail found throughout the land is incredible. No proverbial stone is left unturned as literally every building, character and attraction is smothered in the Haul-O-ween spirit. One could easily spend an entire evening looking around.

Halloween Treats

No one appeals to foodies quite like Disney. Seasonal foods, deserts and treats are offered throughout the year and Halloween is no exception. In fact, a lot of people (us included) can only get their favorites during this time of year.

Both parks, resort hotels and most establishments in Downtown Disney offer a variety of seasonal items, such as entrees, alcoholic drinks, non-alcoholic drinks, deserts, hand-held treats and more.

If you’re into pumpkin flavored, well….anything, then Disneyland is where you’ll want to be. The parks heavily cater to pumpkin lovers. If you’re not into pumpkin, don’t fret. There will be plenty of options for you as well.

Don’t stress over trying to eat everything. There’s simply too many options. Disney markets these seasonal offerings to locals as they’re able to go to the parks simply to try a new desert. The average visitor doesn’t have that luxury, unfortunately.

READ ALSO: “Disneyland Dining Guide: Mobile Order, Mobile Walk-Up, Reservations and More”

Details Released for Disneyland’s 2024 Star Wars Nite Event

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

A few months ago, Disneyland officials announced the park’s 2024 After Dark lineup and to the surprise of absolutely no one, Star Wars Nite would once again headline the series.

Second only to Oogie Boogie Bash (maybe), the Star Wars brand has been anchoring Disney’s After Dark events since 2018 and has been growing in popularity ever since.

In 2024, there will be twice as many Star Wars Nites as there were in 2023! A total of eight, to be exact, spread out over the months of April and May.

Recently, Disney finally announced the specifics about the event, including a few changes that you may or may not be thrilled about.

In the post below, I’ll discuss what you can expect from Star Wars Nite in 2024, ticket prices, dates, on sale dates, Magic Key pre sales and more!

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2024 Star Wars Nite Dates and Ticket Prices

In 2024, Disneyland will be hosting eight Star Wars Nite events on April 16, 18, 23, 25, 30 and May 2, 7, and 9. This is twice as many as they held in 2023, proving the Star Wars brand is just as strong as it’s ever been.

As predicted, the ticket prices for Star Wars Nite jumped a bit this year, but not by much. In 2024, prices for tickets range between $159 and $169. Specific date pricing is as follows:

• April 16: $159

• April 18: $169

• April 23: $159

• April 25: $169

• April 30: $159

• May 2: $169

• May 7: $159

• May 9: $169

As per usual, there are no Magic Key discounts (or any at all, for that matter), and there is no distinction between adults and kids as both pay the same rate.

There reason why Disney doesn’t offer a lower rate for kids for After Dark tickets is because the main draw at these events are the special offerings, instead of the usual, everyday attractions.

Many of the attractions have height requirements that some kids don’t meet and thus, won’t be able to experience the attraction. So on a normal park ticket, they’re priced less to compensate.

The offerings during After Dark events, which usually consists of rare character meet and greets, dance parties, photo opps and the like, do not require a height requirement. So both adults and kids can experience them the same. Hence, why they’re priced accordingly.

One of the benefits of your ticket is being able to access Disneyland three hours prior to the event’s start time. With Star Wars Nite kicking off at 9pm, that means you can get in starting at 6pm.

2024 Star Wars Nite Offerings

Unless a specific attraction is closed for refurbishment or a closure of some other kind, most Disneyland Park attractions will be open during the event.

This is great because compared to a normal park day, the crowds at After Dark events are generally lighter. Additionally, most attendees are focusing on the special offerings.

This usually means you’ll experience minimum wait times. I’m not saying they’ll all be walk-ons, though. The Star Wars themed attractions, such as Rise of the Resistance, will likely still have a decent wait. Though not as high as it normally is.

Conversely, Star Tours and Smuggler’s Run will likely experience decent wait times, but nothing like they do during normal park hours.

Low wait times aside, the real draw here are the numerous Star Wars themed offerings. In 2024, some of these include special character opportunities, themed photo opportunities, Star Wars themed food and more.

Some of these include:

• An encounter with Captain Phasma and her elite unit of Stormtroopers in Tomorrowland

• The ‘Resistance Show of Unity’ in front of the Millennium Falcon in Galaxy’s Edge

• Numerous Star Wars themed treats available for purchase, including a Street-Style Elote Burger at Hungry Bear and Pork Belly Sisig-inspired Loaded Fries at Red Rose Taverne

• A Galactic Dance Party with a DJ on Main Street U.S.A

• Rare character meet and greets scattered throughout the park

• A special cavalcade led by Mickey and Minnie Mouse down Main Street U.S.A with guests wearing Star Wars costumes

• and much more

If you’ll be wearing a Star Wars-themed costume to the event, taking part in the cavalcade down Main Street is sure to be one of the biggest highlights of the event.

You’ll begin near the train station and be led up Main Street U.S.A by none other than Mickey and Minnie Mouse. The cavalcade will culminate at Sleeping Beaty Castle, where a group photo of the participants will be taken.

Many of the treat options can be mobile ordered, but I implore you to do so ahead of time. Remember, you’re permitted entry into the park three hours prior to the event’s start time.

I recommend booking your pick up windows during this time, if possible, as these treats have been known to sell out fast. It is not yet known if Magic Key holder discounts will apply.

When Do 2024 Star Wars Nite Tickets Go On Sale?

Star Wars Nite tickets are sold exclusively on the Disneyland website (NOT the app), and there are multiple sale dates to be aware of this year. Magic Key holders, you need to pay attention.

For the first time, Inspire Key (the highest key tier) holders, will get first crack at Star Wars Nite tickets prior to everyone else - on February 20, to be exact. Reminder - unless you have an activated Inspire Key, you will NOT be able to purchase tickets on this date.

By activated, I mean you’ve either already used your key to access one of the parks or you’ve used your parking entitlement. If you recently purchased an Inspire Key on January 10 and HAVEN’T yet used it, then it is NOT activated.

For Believe, Enchant and Imagine Key holders, you’ll have your exclusive purchase days on February 21 AND February 22. Note that Inspire Key holders will NOT be able to purchase tickets on these two dates.

Finally, the general public sale will be held on February 23. If you’re not a Magic Key holder, don’t fret. Disney holds a certain amount of tickets aside for each sale date. Exactly how many is unknown, but there will still be tickets available for each sales date on February 23.

No matter the sale date you’re eligible for, tickets go on sale no sooner than 9am through the Disneyland website and you’ll be placed in a virtual queue. New for this year will be the “Notify Me” option while in the virtual queue.

With this feature, you can opt to provide Disney with an email address to notify you when it’s your turn to purchase tickets. This way, you’re not staring at the computer screen for hours on end. When you receive notification, you’ll have ten minutes to make your selections.

Why Disney went with an email option and not a text message one is a bit of a head scratcher to me, but I digress. As someone who can testify to how stressful the virtual queue can be, this is certainly better than nothing.

Much like Oogie Boogie Bash and Sweetheart’s Nite, this event will sell out quickly. Just because sales begin no sooner than 9am, doesn’t mean there isn’t anything you can do to give yourself an advantage.

Disney doesn’t announce this, and it doesn’t happen every time, but you’re often able to enter a “virtual waiting room” starting at 8:45am. Doing this could mean the difference between getting to purchase your tickets in under an hour or having to wait multiple hours.

Additionally, instead of going directly to the Disneyland website at 8:45am, go to Google and search “2024 Star Wars Nite tickets”. Click the first Disneyland website link in the search results and that’ll take you directly to the virtual queue.

Refreshing the Disneyland website sometimes doesn’t work and there are occasional delays that could derail your chances. It nearly happened to me during the Magic Key sale in January. That five minutes I missed while constantly hitting refresh caused to wait over six hours to purchase my keys.

READ NEXT: “Disneyland in One Day: 8 Tips to Maximize Your Time”

A Guide to Visiting Disneyland in July 2024

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

Visiting Disneyland in July is only for the bravest of souls. Of all the summer months, July tends to be the busiest, as blocked out Magic Key holders make way for the peak tourist season swell.

In most cases, school aged children are out for summer break, making it a prime opportunity for their parents to cash in their PTO. Combine that with the thousands of Inspire Key holders still able to access the parks, and you have a recipe for dense crowds.

So how crowded is Disneyland in July, exactly? Are there any special events? How much are hotels going to cost? I discuss all these topics and whole lot more below. Let’s get into it.

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Anaheim Weather in July

For starters, it’s hot. July is Anaheim’s hottest month of the year but with its low humidity (around 57%), it doesn’t feel too bad. Nights can still be on the cooler side, so bringing a light hoodie wouldn’t be a bad idea.

The average lows and highs are in the mid 60’s and the low 80’s, respectively. There will be a few miserably hot days where the heat rises into the 90s but overall, it’s a comfortable level of warmth. You’ll also get an average of 14.2 hours of daylight.

If you’re not a fan of rainy days, you’re in luck. July is one of the months with the least amount of rain in Anaheim. According to AccuWeather, there’s only a 5% chance of rain on any given day and in Southern California, there are very little summer thunder storms as well.

Wind is rarely an issue either. The average wind speed hovers around 7.7 mph (in other words, barely noticeable). All in all, aside from a few overly hot days, July isn’t a bad month, weather wise.

Be sure to pack for warm weather but as stated above, you’ll definitely want to bring along a light hoodie and maybe joggers for the cooler evenings.

Is Disneyland Crowded in July?

In a word, yes. As stated above, July is the peak tourist travel season at the Disneyland Resort. However, there’s generally no significant difference between weekday and weekend crowds, so you’ll have more options as to which dates to book.

All of the special ticket promotions Disney was running earlier in the year will have long expired by this point, so expect to pay sticker price on multi-day and the high end of the spectrum for single-day tickets.

The fact that all Magic Keys sold out in record time on January 10th could indicate higher than usual crowds. In fact, both the Inspire and Believe Keys, which are the only two that are not entirely blocked for the month, were the first to sell out. That doesn’t necessarily equate to higher crowds, though.

I say that because locals are the biggest drivers of crowds at Disneyland, and more of them are opting for the lower two Magic Key options. While it’s believed there are more holders of those versus the higher two, the lower two are blocked out entirely in July. Some will surely purchase single day tickets to get their fix but they’re the exception, not the rule.

In fact, due to the Imagine and Enchant Keys being blocked out entirely and the Believe Key being blocked on select dates, I expect July 4-6, 13, 20 and 27 to potentially be the “slowest” days of the month. Of course, the word slow at Disneyland is a relative term, and all depends on perspective. It’s going to be packed, just potentially not as much so as the rest of the month.

Aside from Independence Day, Disneyland’s Birthday and the continuation of Pixar Fest, there are no special events or After Dark events scheduled for July. The rush to see the offerings of Pixar Fest would have likely died down by now.

Due to the heavy crowds in July, you’ll need to be on the ball when it comes to dining reservations. Meaning, exactly 60-days before each day of your visit, you’ll need to be signed into your account on the Disneyland website or app. They usually start releasing reservations at around 6am or so.

If your goal is to visit the parks with the least amount of people around as possible, I recommend skipping a visit in July and consider booking for late August or early September, if at all possible.

Disneyland Single-Day Ticket Prices and Magic Key Blockouts

Disneyland prices its single-day tickets on a dynamic structure, meaning the price you pay is driven by demand. For example, the price you’ll pay for a Saturday will almost always be priced higher than a ticket purchased for a Tuesday.

Due to July being the peak of the tourist travel season, just about everyday that month is going to be at the higher end of the spectrum, with few exceptions. The current price range for single-day, adult tickets is $154 - $194. This is for one park, by the way.

Currently, there are only three days at the $154 price, they are July 9, 18 and 22 (a Tuesday, Thursday and a Monday). Interestingly, July 4, Independence Day, is priced at only $169. I know only is a subjective term but considering it’s a national holiday, that price is almost a bargain.

Conversely, all Saturdays in the month and one Friday (7/5) are priced at the high end at $194. Sundays are priced just below that in the $180 range. Weekdays have an average price of $169 and as stated above, the differences in crowd levels aren’t that great. So save yourself some money and go on a weekday.

Single-day child tickets are priced between $146 - $183 and follow the same general pattern as the adult tickets. This is why it’s always a good idea to commit to, at minimum, a two day visit. Yes, technically, you’ll pay more on a two day ticket, but you’ll have more time and thus, more value for your money, as multi-day tickets aren’t subject to dynamic pricing.

Magic Key holders, much like regular ticket holders, are subject to the reservation system and thus, have blockout days where they are unable to access the parks. The Imagine and Enchant Keys, the lower two tiers, are blocked out entirely in July.

Believe Key holders only have a handful of blockout dates. They are July 4, 5, 6, 13, 20 and 27. The Inspire Key, Disney’s top tier, isn’t blocked out at all in July.

July Hotel Rates at Disneyland

A hot button topic when planning a trip to Disneyland is which hotel you’re going to stay at. Unlike its Florida counterpart, whom has dozens of on-site hotels, Disneyland only has three. However, there are a plethora of what are called, “Good Neighbor” hotels. Many of which are within walking distance of the parks.

The three resort hotels are:

• Grand Californian Hotel and Spa

• The Disneyland Hotel and Villas

• Pixar Place Hotel

All three range in amenities, offerings and price but for many, the cost of these hotels is prohibitive. In July, the average nightly rate at the Grand Californian is $874.26 for a standard room with a view of the gardens. For club level of the same classification, you’re looking at a $1,521.74 per night average.

You’ll fare a little better at the Disneyland Hotel with an average nightly rate of $634.76 for a studio in the Villas Tower, $640.60 for a standard room in the other three towers and $948.90 for club level. Pixar Place, Disney’s newest hotel offering, is the most affordable at $503.50 for standard and $718.75 for club.

As you can see, the rates at the resort hotels aren’t for the faint of heart. As stated above, there are literally dozens of more affordable options surrounding the resort. Many of which offer similar or superior amenities to those found at the Grand Californian for more than half the cost.

Obtaining a nightly average for these hotels proved to be a bit more complicated but overall, the Good Neighbor hotels I researched ranged between $70 - $339 per night, with the majority of those that are within walking distance having a nightly average of $180 - $230. As you can see, the savings can be substantial.

Many of the South Harbor hotels between the I-5 overpass and Katella intersection are at $208 or higher, with Motel 6 Maingate, The Clarion and Anaheim Astoria having the lowest averages of $115 or lower per night. I’ve personally stayed at the Motel 6 Maingate and Clarion, neither of which I’ve ever had an issue with. If you’re just looking for a place to sleep, they’re great options.

Despite many of these hotels being within walking distance, many of them offer shuttle service to the parks via the Anaheim Rapid Transit (ART). The cost for that service is $6 - $25 for adults and $2.50 - $5.50 for kids (ages 3-9). You can purchase passes for ART here or in the lobby of your hotel.

Disneyland Ride Closures in July

The Disneyland Resort puts its attractions on a regular closure schedule for ongoing maintenance, extensive repairs, new safety features or including new scenes or technology. These are known as, “refurbishments”. Regardless of the reason, no one likes showing up to the park, all to discover that their favorite attraction is closed.

To help deter this disappointment, Disney releases refurbishment information roughly 45-days in advance. Though, last minute additions or date changes do occur from time to time.

At the time of this post’s publishing, refurb information for July hasn’t been released. However, I can say for certain that the Haunted Mansion attraction will be closed. Disney is currently reimagining the mansion’s grounds, queue space and exit, as well as constructing an ADA elevator.

Another attraction that’s sure to be down is Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Officials at Walt Disney World recently announced a summer 2024 opening for their version of the ride but sadly, we’re going to be waiting a bit longer on the west coast. Our version is currently slated for a late 2024 opening.

This section will be updated as more information about refurbishments become available. In the meantime, I suggest reading and saving my official 2024 Disneyland Refurbishment Guide. In addition to ride closures, I also discuss ongoing and future projects at the resort.

Big Change to Early Entry at the Disneyland Resort in 2024

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

In August 2022, Disney brought back the fan favorite Magic Mornings program under a new name - Early Entry. Many Disneyland fans were delighted with this news.

I say that because prior to covid, anyone with a three, four or five day park ticket were able to access Disneyland Park one hour prior to the official opening time, once per ticket.

When the resort reopened from its covid shutdown in 2021, quite a few perks and features were absent, notably; park hopping, character dining, FastPass and, you guessed it, Magic Mornings.

Roughly a year later, when things began to normalize again, Disney made the announcement that they would be bringing this benefit back. Albeit with a few, rather unpopular changes.

What were those changes? For starters, it was no longer based on your ticket type. Now, the only way you can take advantage of this perk was if you were staying at one of the three resort hotels.

Secondly, Disney cut the early entry time in half to just thirty minutes. As stated above, in the before times, you were permitted to access the park a full hour prior to opening time.

So essentially, now, you enter the park at the same time as those who’re rope dropping, but you get to bypass the rope at two lands at Disneyland and a quite a few major attractions at Disney California Adventure.

One positive change that guests actually celebrated was you could now access either Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure, as both were available daily.

However, that perk has changed. As of January 20th, 2024, only one park will be accessible during Early Entry each day. The park calendar on the Disneyland website states which park will be available.

Many fans have voiced their displeasure of this change on X (formally known as, Twitter) but as many point out, this appears to be nothing more than Disney reverting the program back to its original form, only with DCA being an option and not just Disneyland.

For now, every other aspect about the Early Entry program remains the same. You must be a registered guest at one of the resort hotels and you still get a thirty minute head start.

Many believe thirty minutes isn’t enough and while I agree to a point, I can testify that it’s enough time to get a small handful of attractions done. Especially when you consider you still have the normal two hour rope drop window.

At Disneyland Park, you get early access to two lands, Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. Provided there aren’t any on the refurbishment schedule, most of the attractions in each land are open during Early Entry, including:

• Space Mountain

• Peter Pan’s Flight

• Dumbo the Flying Elephant

• Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage

• Star Wars - The Adventures Continue

• and more

In this case, the attractions are in close proximity of one another, making it easy to knock out two, maybe three before rope drop. If you head straight for Peter Pan’s Flight, though, prepare for that one to potentially be the only one you get done during Early Entry.

Over at DCA, it’s a whole different beast. The attractions that are open during Early Entry at this park are spread out, making it difficult to get the same amount done that you could at Disneyland.

A few examples of DCA’s Early Entry attractions include:

• Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission BREAKOUT!

• Incredicoaster

• Soarin’ Around the World

• WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure

• Monsters Inc - Mike & Sulley to the Rescue

• and more

You should notice a significant difference between those two lists. DCA has several E-ticket level attractions open during Early Entry, compared to Disneyland’s one. And because rope drop is much harder to do at DCA, having that extra thirty minutes could make all the difference.

Since they’re so spread out, it’s imperative to check the refurbishment calendar (you can read and save mine here) so you don’t waste precious time hustling all the way to Incredicoaster, all to find out it hasn’t opened yet.

At times, cast members will inform you of which attractions are closed, but I recommend playing it safe by reviewing the calendar before you arrive. Having a predetermined game plan, with contingencies in mind, is the only way to go.

Unfortunately, Radiator Springs Racers isn’t open during Early Entry. You can queue up for it outside of Cars Land, though. If you do, queue up at the transition between Cars Land and Avengers Campus. There will be much less competition over there and it’s closer to the attraction.

Early Entry may not be as good or popular as its predecessor, but it’s one of those situations that better we have this than nothing at all.

On one hand, people who usually stay at an off property hotel lose a perk they once had but on the other, those who’re shelling out huge sums of money to stay on property have gained an exclusive perk that helps to justify the price a bit more.

I don’t stay on property often but when I do choose to, I do like accessing the parks earlier. I, like many, believe it should be moved back to an hour, though. Thirty minutes may be better than nothing, but a full hour would make this perk so much better.