It’s the most wonderful time of the year at Disneyland’s California Adventure Park! If you’ve been following my blog for awhile then you know part of why I love visiting Disneyland is to not only go on the rides, but to enjoy all of the amazing food they have to offer! I’ve never fully participated in the Festival of Holidays Sip & Savor Pass program before so I had to try it this year.
If you’re making a trip to the parks for the Holiday Season this year and plan on getting one of these passes I have a few tips that will help you max out and get the most bang for your buck!
First of all, don’t use your pass tickets for any menu items that cost less than $6. Why? Because you are wasting your money! These passes cost $49 for annual pass holders and you receive 8 food or drink tickets (sadly it does not include alcohol). If you divide that up you’re paying around $6.12 per food item.
However, there are many menu items like the sweets and non-alcoholic beverages that can range around $4 to $5. You would be losing money by using your tickets on these items. It’s best to just pay for those if you want them.
Also, I would like to note that we only bought one pass and it was more than enough food for Jarod and I to share. Unless you plan on spacing your pass out over several trips you don’t really need to purchase multiples.
Now for the food, I gotta say I really enjoyed the varieties of food they had to offer. Around Halloween I feel like all the treats are mostly sweets which makes it difficult to sample a bunch of things. With the Festival of Holidays kiosks throughout the park it’s a great way to try new things!
My favorite item were these Reuben Potato Tots from the Favorite Things kiosk. If you like potatoes and Reuben sandwiches you’ll love the sauerkraut and creamy thousand island sauce that top the tasty tots!
We did also stop to enjoy some cocktails along the way which are not included with the pass, but worth adding to your snacking adventures. These lovely Pomegranate & White Cranberry Mimosas were especially enjoyable.
Another item I tried that I loved was this Curry Cauliflower Soup with Braised Lamb from the Holiday Duets kiosk. Holy flavor bomb this was good! Honestly, I didn’t expect to like this as much as I did. The only thing that would have made it better was more lamb. Wish I knew how to make this at home because it’s the perfect winter comfort food.
When speaking to a cast member earlier that day she recommended I try the Turkey & Stuffing Tamale from the Merry Mashups kiosk. It sounded a bit odd to me at first, but this was a really tasty take on a holiday meal. The cranberry relish on top was a nice touch too!
Next up to try was this savory dish of Chana Masala with Grilled Garlic Naan from the Winter Wonders kiosk. They had me at Garlic Naan! It’s probably one of my favorite types of bread and the Chana Masala had a delicious curry flavor that I couldn’t get enough of.
At this point I know what you’re thinking...wow Natasha, that is a lot of food! And you would be right, but we’re not done yet! Up next at the Blissfully Braised kiosk we had the Braised Pork Belly with Garlic Fried Rice. Like pork belly? Then you have to try this dish. It was tender and full of flavor.
To wrap things up we headed to the Winter Sliderland kiosk. I’ll be honest, at this point I was already feeling pretty stuffed. But a cast member had told me earlier that day that I had to try the Roasted Turkey Slider with Cranberry Sauce and the Holiday Stuffing Mac & Cheese so that’s exactly what I did. Out of the two items I enjoyed the Mac & Cheese the best. I think between the Tamale and the Slider which had very similar flavor profiles I prefered the Tamale. But to each their own!
All in all I think the Sip & Savor Pass was worth it because I bought everything that was more expensive. I liked that it allowed us to try a bunch of different dishes and that we could share everything. If you’re headed to Disneyland before January 6th, 2019, definitely check out the Festival of Holidays at California Adventure. Then tag me on Instagram and tell me which dish was your favorite! Happy Holidays Food Adventurers!
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