Each year, during Christmas at Disneyland, there are several seasonal food items available for a limited time across the resort. This year, Disneyland has 240 holiday food items, 90 of which are new!
We detail all of the holiday foods in our Disneyland Christmas food guide and Disney Festival of Holidays food guide, with a free printable PDF of the foods and where to find them. We were there on the first day of the holiday celebration to try some of the new foods, and we’ll share our thoughts and ratings below! At Mickey Visit, we share the latest Disney news and happenings, like a new giveaway just announced for Magic Key holders and another big Disney gift card discount ahead of Black Friday.
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New Disneyland Christmas Foods Ratings
This year, there is not an overwhelming number of new items for the Disney Festival of Holidays in particular. While it makes sense that Disney is focusing on its successful items and experimenting less, I do wish that there were a few more new items to try out.
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It’s also interesting to note how popular the Disney Festival of Holidays marketplace booths are with local pass holders vs. visitors coming in for vacation. There is a very dramatic difference in demand for the booths after the blockout dates kick in. With fewer new items, I would imagine there is a bit less incentive for locals to come out and try the items at the marketplaces.
Now, let’s dive into our reviews. We’ll start with the items we tried at Disneyland Park, then we’ll cover the Disney California Adventure and Disney Festival of Holidays foods!
We always recommend getting your hands on a Mickey Gingerbread during the holiday season! This cookie is soft, perfectly flavored, and visually delightful. Note that this is different from the Mickey-shaped gingerbread you’ll find across the resort. You’ll find it at Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe, Market House, Red Rose Taverne, Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe, and Grand Californian Great Hall Cart. We will always rate this treat a 10/10.
Next up, the White Mocha-Peppermint Tree-shaped Macaron filled with peppermint buttercream and a coffee bundt cake center is a great new treat at Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe. This was perfectly minty and chewy, and all of the different elements came together perfectly. Jolly Holiday always does a good job with its treats, and this was no exception. We would rate this a 9/10.
We also tried another minty treat, the new Mint Chip Funnel Cake Fries from Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree! These are spiced hot cocoa sugar-dusted funnel cake fries, mint chip ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate chips. Admittedly, we ate these in the pouring rain, so the fries were not warm. Even so, it was pretty delicious. We would rate this a 7.5/10.
We also tried the new Hot Spiced Apple Cider topped with caramel whipped cream from Royal Street Veranda. This is a great alternative to coffee if you’re feeling like a warm drink but aren’t a coffee person. I was pretty happy sipping on this while walking around the park in the cold. The caramel whipped cream is the perfect touch. I would rate this an 8/10.
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We tried the returning Celebration Dinner Potato at Troubadour Tavern. This is a baked potato with pulled smoked turkey, whipped cream cheese, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, and fried onions. The only reason this doesn’t get a perfect rating is that I wish it had more of the filling. The potato-to-filling ratio was off, but the flavor was delightful. I would rate this an 8/10.
Over at Disney California Adventure, we tried the new Red Velvet Mickey-shaped Waffles filled with cream cheese and topped with whipped topping at Schmoozies! This location has been trying out variations of seasonal waffles. I actually did not like the Halloween waffles from last season here, so I was surprised when I absolutely loved these.
The flavoring is perfect, and the cream cheese filling is delicious. It really didn’t even need the whipped cream. A word of warning that it is pretty messy to eat, so be careful to have a napkin at the ready when you’re biting into these! I would rate them a 9/10.
Another hit from Disney California Adventure is the returning Chicken Pot Pie Soup topped with crispy fried wonton shell at Aunt Cass Café. This was so flavorful and the perfect, filling meal on a rainy day. I wished that this were endless! I would rate this a solid 10/10.
We also tried the Pumpkin Crème Brûlée Cold Brew from Cozy Cone Motel 1 – Churros. This is a returning item featuring Joffrey’s Pumpkin crème brûlée cold brew coffee with pumpkin sauce topped with cold cream foam. This was not my favorite item I tried. I felt like there were too many bold elements, but I couldn’t quite identify what the flavors were. Overall, they were a little too overpowering. I would give this a 5/10.
We also tried the new Strawberry Basil Churro, featuring strawberry sauce, basil dust, and whipped topping at Terran Treats. This was pretty good! It wasn’t anything mind-blowing, but the flavors were harmonious. I would rate this a 6.5/10.
We also tried a few different items from the Disney Festival of Holidays marketplaces. We tried The Holiday Duet from Disney Festival of Holidays Holiday Duets Marketplace, which is a half portion of each of the two macs offered here.
One is the returning Savory Kugel Mac & Cheese with herb breadcrumbs, sour cream, and chives. The other is the new Al Pastor Mac & Cheese with tortilla crumble and cilantro. I liked the new mac and thought it was flavorful and had a nice little kick to it. I am glad I got it in the duo, as the Savory Kugel is a nice contrast in flavor. I would rate this a 7/10.
The next item we enjoyed was the returning Chorizo Queso Fundido with tortilla chips from Brews & Bites (also available at Cozy Cone 5 – Popcone). We’ve really liked this one in the past, and this year was no different. It’s a perfect, savory snack, and the chorizo is very flavorful. We would rate this a 9/10.
The Tropical Holiday Punch is a fun new drink from Merry Mashups. This drink is pineapple, orange and lemon juices, blue raspberry syrup, and coconut purée garnished with a blue raspberry gummy candy. It’s a little reminiscent of a Blue Hawaii drink. I really enjoyed this and would rate it an 8/10. It’s a nice non-alcoholic option that is also fun for kids.
We also tried the new Holiday M&M’S Éclair filled with milk chocolate mousse and topped with whipped ganache and M&M’S Milk Chocolate Minis from Merry Mashups.
This was actually the item I was most excited to try, so I’m sad to report that I was disappointed by it. The filling was actually quite good, but the dough left much to be desired. The ganache, strangely, wasn’t even a little bit sweet, which threw me off a bit. Overall, this was so cute, but I didn’t love it. I would rate it a 3.5/10.
A returning item we enjoyed was the Beef Brisket Slider with smoked onions and horseradish ketchup on a pretzel roll from A Twist on Tradition (also available at Studio Catering Co.). I’ve always really liked this item and how the flavors come together, but I feel it is getting ever so slightly tired. I would still rate it highly at a 7/10.
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