These 16 New Disneyland Foods Have Secret Inspiration From Park’s History

Disneyland’s 70th anniversary celebration is currently underway with several special offerings, including a bunch of new 70th anniversary foods! Something that caught our attention when the 70th foods were released was the items that were marked “inspired by the past.” Each of these foods is inspired by something from Disneyland Park’s history, and now Disney has shared some more details about what each one references.

These are the stories behind these fun 70th anniversary foods! Keep reading for more details. You can also see our full Disneyland 70th anniversary food guide for a free pdf printable of all the foods and our review of the Disneyland 70th anniversary foods we’ve tried so far.

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70th Anniversary Foods Inspired By Disneyland’s Past

Walt Disney famously loved chili, and this is reflected in a couple of items in Disneyland’s 70th anniversary foods lineup. As Walt Disney’s wife Lillian recalled, “He liked basic foods. He loved chili.” Walt liked to have his chili with a side of crackers, and according to the Walt Disney Archives, he would often eat chili at the studio Commissary and forget the crackers and crumbs in his pockets until they were discovered when his clothes were sent out for dry cleaning, which is pretty funny!

There have been many variations of “Walt’s Chili,” with the first recipe dating back to 1958, and chefs continue to serve it in various offerings for park guests to this day. So, in honor of Walt’s love for chili, you can enjoy the Chili Cheese Corn Dog from Corn Dog Castle and the W.E.D. Chili Cheese Baked Potato at Trubadour Tavern. This second dish is named after WED Enterprises, the organization Disney founded in 1952 to help create Disneyland, which is known as Walt Disney Imagineering today.

We tried the Chili Cheese Corn Dog recently, and though it’s technically covered with a crunchy layer of corn chips rather than saltine crackers, it’s still kind of fun to reflect specifically on Walt Disney’s love for chili and crackers when enjoying this food. You can see more about how you can enjoy Walt’s favorite meal at a classic Disneyland restaurant here.

Another favorite of Walt’s was pie, specifically lemon chiffon pie with a graham cracker crust. A particularly creative item honoring this is the Lemon Chiffon Pretzel that you’ll find at the stand near Star Tours! This is a cream cheese-filled pretzel dipped in lemon-flavored icing, topped with crushed vanilla wafer.

You’ll find another great reference to Disneyland’s history in the two 70th anniversary items at Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante! These are inspired by the Casa de Fritos restaurant, which was once located where Rancho del Zocalo is now. This restaurant opened in 1955 as part of a partnership between Disney and Frito-Lay and has a super interesting history—Doritos were actually accidentally created here! The restaurant had an interactive vending machine featuring the company’s mascot, the Frito Kid, who would come alive and speak when guests bought a bag of chips (you can read more in the article above).

Casa de Fritos offered a menu of Mexican-inspired foods like Frito Chili Pie and “Ta-Cups” (tacos served in a fried shell), and Fritos came free with each meal. So, it’s only fitting that the 70th anniversary Fried Tamale Walking Taco  would be a fusion of these two classic menu items! This creative dish is a fried beef tamale with chili, corn chips, and diced onions with cilantro, shredded cheese, and sour cream.

The Mocha Cream Puff is the other item inspired by this former Disneyland restaurant! This is a cream puff filled with cinnamon-mocha pastry cream, topped with chocolate-covered corn chips. When we tried this, the chocolate-covered corn chips were our favorite part!

Another couple of 70th anniversary foods reference the Tahitian Terrace, which opened in Adventureland in 1962. This location offered live entertainment from the Royal Tahitian Dancers and foods inspired by the South Seas. This former Adventureland restaurant is where Tropical Hideaway is located today.

Two 70th anniversary items are inspired by the Tahitian Terrace, the Tropical Rum Cocktail at Carnation Cafe, and the Grilled Tahitian Ribs at Bengal Barbecue. These locations are both some of our top-rated best Mickey Visit Disneyland restaurants. The ribs are a recreation of a past menu item, as ribs with pineapple and rice were an offering on the original Tahitian Terrace menu. While we haven’t tried this offering quite yet, we’ve seen it’s been getting rave reviews due to the sauce.

Photo via Disney Parks Blog

The super cute Mickey Hat Cookie at Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe and Market House is based on the mouse ear hat made popular by the 1955 television series Mickey Mouse Club! This is a simple item that is mostly decorative, but we found the cookie was surprisingly soft.

The food I was arguably most excited to try for the Disneyland 70th anniversary was the Hook’s Galley Tuna Melt at Red Rose Taverne, which is inspired by the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship and Restaurant that opened in 1955 where the Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride is today. This restaurant and pirate ship sponsored by Chicken of the Sea was a landmark of Fantasyland and doubled as a great photo op and restaurant that offered a selection of tuna dishes. The restaurant became Hook’s Galley in 1969 and was unfortunately removed in 1982 due to complications with preserving it during the New Fantasyland expansion.

We liked the tuna melt quite a lot (and the fun little Hook’s sword pick at the top). It was a little spicy, but it had some nice flavors. This is such a fun reference to the park’s past!

A handful of 70th anniversary items are inspired by the opening-day restaurant, Carnation Cafe. Before it became the table-service restaurant it is today, the restaurant was an old-fashioned ice cream parlor for many years, where guests enjoyed their treats on tall stools at the counter. So, it makes sense that a few items in Disneyland’s 70th anniversary lineup would contain nods to this era of the location!

The Banana Split  at Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor is an offering close to the original Victorian Banana Split, which was a favorite at Carnation Ice Cream Parlor. This classic treat contains vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice creams topped with strawberries, pineapple, hot fudge, fresh banana, chopped nuts, whipped cream, and a cherry. The Banana Split Churro at Churros Near Goofy’s Sky School is another variation of this Victorian Banana Split!

The Carnation Ice Cream Parlor eventually closed in 1997, and one of the items that was on the menu when it reopened as the table-service Carnation Cafe in the 90s was a Beef Stroganoff. The 70th anniversary Beef Stroganoff is a version of this past dish!

Another fun treat inspired by the park’s past is the Apple Pancake Rolls  at River Belle Terrace. These were a favorite item on the menu of the former Pancake House, which opened at Disneyland in 1955, and this version is close to the original item. There are also Strawberry and Blueberry Pancakes on the menu that are a variation of an original offering at the Pancake House.

A fun side note! Starting two years after the Pancake House opened, Disneyland started to hold the state championship for the annual Pancake Race, which took place down Main Street U.S.A., where participants would compete over who could flip pancakes over a series of ribbons at the quickest pace. The Pancake Races took place from 1957-1964! These Pancake Races were one of the most fun (but also weirdest) things in Disneyland’s history!

A few more items inspired by the past include the Dancing Shimmering Lights drink at Trubadour Tavern, which is inspired by Videopolis in Fantasyland (which is Fantasyland Theatre today). Videopolis was a dance area in the 1980s and 1990s with giant screens that played the latest music videos.

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The Space Place Cottage Fries at Galactic Grill are inspired by an original offering at the former Space Place Restaurant in Tomorrowland! These used to be a side dish offered at the location. We were surprised by how much we liked these fries and think they were a highlight of the 70th anniversary foods! The seasoning on these is perfect. We love how Disneyland has revived versions of some of these past menu items.

Last but not least, the Cowboy Fries at The Golden Horseshoe are inspired by the hamburgers that Frontierland used to serve in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. This is definitely one of our top Disneyland 70th anniversary items and has been super popular with guests.

It’s so cool to see how much thought Disney put into these 70th anniversary items with so many fun references to the park’s past! The specialty foods are already a lot of fun, but these extra details make you appreciate them even more.

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