Listen, we’ve seen plenty of trends come and go in Disney World.

Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle

From the rose gold phase to the days when Starbucks tumblers were literally being FOUGHT over in The Emporium, Disney has often been keen to hop on the latest trends. They even change rides and attractions to update them with modern times! But there’s one trend happening in Disney World — and Magic Kingdom in particular — that we’ve got to point out.

Do you know what has INVADED Disney World right now? Dad jokes! 

Jungle Cruise

Nope, I’m totally serious here. They’re all over the place! They started out as being confined to the Jungle Cruise attraction, and we were totally okay with that. That ride was MADE for silly humor and witty puns. It’s the whole reason we visit it!

Jungle Cruise

But after a while, they started expanding outside that perimeter. And now it seems that every Disney Cast Member with a microphone has a joke to tell us.

It starts with the tram ride into the parks. Boarding the tram at the Transportation & Ticket Center can be a tedious task, and then the tram announcers insist upon livening the ride up with some jaunty humor. What if we didn’t want our tram ride to be fun, Disney? Huh?! (Okay, well maybe that’s actually a bit of an improvement.)

Magic Kingdom tram

Then, once you get to the park, you can’t escape it! Right there on Main Street, U.S.A., as if they were waiting for you, are likely to be the Dapper Dans. Their musical performances are littered with bad jokes and dad jokes alike. Jokes like: “How does Ariel wash her fin? With TIDE!” (Alright, maybe that was kind of funny.)

The Dapper Dans are ICONIC

And if those experiences aren’t enough, I’ve also been cornered by jokesters in other locations as well. I’ve heard puns uttered hurriedly over the Monorail intercom, Disney character jokes shared by the conductor on the Wildlife Express, and of course, a fair share of animal humor has been directed my way while riding on Kilimanjaro Safaris. (But then, who doesn’t love a good animal joke?!)

Kilimanjaro Safaris

Okay, so maybe I’m not really mad about it at all. Maybe it really does make me laugh and smile more, and maybe it really does improve my trips to the parks by a significant margin. Honestly, Disney Cast Members are the best, and I’m happy to laugh at their jokes (whether they’re good or bad!) over and over again.

We love Cast Members!

Stay tuned to DFB for more updates on the latest news and happenings in Disney World. We’ve got you covered!

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What do you think of this trend? Tell us in the comments!

The post This Horrifying Trend Is Taking Over Magic Kingdom and We Are Not OK first appeared on the disney food blog.

We’re heading to our next Food and Wine food booth for one reason, and one reason ONLY.

2024 booth

The 2024 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival has officially begun at Disneyland Resort and there are LOTS of things to do. From now through April 22nd, you can devour some tasty eats and drinks, check out unique entertainment, and more. Next up on the docket, we’re heading over to the Garlic Kissed booth to get a classic dish made with one of our fave flavors. Oh garlic, how we love you! With some new and returning hits, this booth is sure to be a tasty locale.

Menu

Over at the  Garlic Kissed, you won’t find a robust menu. But what you will find is one killer item that Disney’s West Coast chefs have brought back, and we’re hoping it’s as good as last year!

2024 Menu

Now that we’ve taken a look at the menu, let’s dive into the food itself!

Eats

Returning for the third year, is the Grilled Top Sirloin for $9. We first tried this dish in 2022, and it was a flavor powerhouse! The beef was super tender, and you get a pretty large portion. The potatoes are great, too — they were very creamy and flavorful. You could definitely taste the garlic in them, but there wasn’t so much that it overpowered the other flavors. There are some peppers on top if you’re looking for an extra kick as well! The only part of this that we didn’t love was how quickly the dish gets oily because of that Chimichurri sauce.

Grilled Top Sirloin

Has Garlic Kissed done it again this year? Could the Grilled Top Sirloin be as good as we remember? This year — not so much. Our meat was overcooked and pretty dry, and we found it to be relatively tasteless. The chimichurri had the flavor we were looking for but it was a bit overpowering. We did enjoy the potatoes, in fact, they were the best part of this dish. If you love super herby things, you might be okay with this but it was too much for us!

Grilled Top Sirloin

We’ve got one drink to try as well!

Drinks

For drinks at this booth, you can grab the returning Guava Lychee Mule for $17. It’s made with Vodka, Guava Nectar, Ginger and Lychee Syrups, Lemon Juice, topped with Guava and Grapefruit Hard Cider, and garnished with a Lemon Wheel.

Guava Lychee Mule

We tried this cocktail last year and thought it was super refreshing — we loved that it wasn’t too sweet and was more on the tart side. We tasted a lot more grapefruit than we did guava or lychee, though. We’d definitely get this one again.

OVERALL

Make sure you pack your breathmints if you’re heading to this booth! The cocktail here is a solid, not-too-sweet option if you like tropical, fruity beverages. But, for us, the sirloin fell flat this year so we wouldn’t recommend this booth based on that alone.

At Garlic Kissed, you’ll find one dish making a comeback this year, and that’s the Grilled Top Sirloin with roasted garlic-gruyère smashed potatoes and black garlic chimichurri!

Disney California Adventure pic.twitter.com/m8a57Ooz4O

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) February 29, 2024

That’s it for this booth, but there’s a LOT more where that came from!

Click here to see FULL reviews of EVERY. SINGLE. BOOTH. at the Food & Wine Festival at Disneyland Resort!

Trying to plan the PERFECT trip to the Festival? We’ll be keeping you updated on all of the latest. Click our links below for the information you need to know:

• See our full page on the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival here
• Check out ALL of the Festival menus here

And stay tuned for more Disney news!

Keep Following Us For ALL the DCA Food & Wine Reviews and Details!

Will you be visiting the Food & Wine Festival? Tell us in the comments!

The post REVIEW: Garlic Kissed at the 2024 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival first appeared on the disney food blog.

We’ve been making our way through the 2024 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival! And we’re about to visit one of the booths we’re MOST excited about.

2024 Nuts About Cheese booth

That’s right, folks. The time has come, our raison dêtre has arrived and we are visiting the Nuts About Cheese food booth at 2024 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival.

Can you feel the anticipation in the air? Are you ready for all the nuts and cheese you can handle? We’re open to all of it, cheesy nuts and nutty cheeses — come on, Disney, lay it on us! This is our reason for existing!

Menu

Over at the Nuts About Cheese, just as the name suggests, you’ll find items showcasing nuts and cheeses.

2024 Menu

Do you see what we see? Yes, there is an item that lists cheese as an ingredient, but we can find mac and cheese anywhere. And how is Disney showcasing our under-represented friend, the nut? with two items that just have a nutty whisper to them?

As big, self-proclaimed cheese fans, we find ourselves disappointed in the menu that promises to be all about nuts and cheese, to be seriously lacking in both nuts and cheeses. But, let’s reserve judgment — maybe Disney really killed it with these dishes. Maybe they can redeem themselves.

Eats

First up, we grabbed the Big Bad BBQ Pulled Pork Mac and Cheese for $9.

Big Bad BBQ Pulled Pork Mac & Cheese with crispy dill pickle onions

This dish, as it claims, sports BBQ pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, and is topped with crispy dill pickle onions.

BBQ Pulled Pork Mac n Cheese

Sooo… how does this mighty fine looking dish TASTE? Well, we found it to be VERY tasty. The pork is cooked nicely and tastes great on its own. It’s seasoned well and the tangy barbecue adds a very pleasant sweetness.

BBQ Pulled Pork Mac and Cheese

The macaroni and cheese is creamy, delicious, and everything that good mac should be. Just make sure to get EVERYTHING in one bite to get a true explosion of flavor. (That might sound CHEESY but it’s true. ) $9 for mac and cheese is wild, but dare we say that this is worth it?

Next, we grabbed the Mickey-shaped Macaron for $7.75.

Mickey-shaped Macaron made with SNICKERS bar pieces

This dessert is a macaron made with SNICKERS bar pieces.

Mickey-Shaped Macaron

Let’s look at all of the things we love about this. We love Mickey-shaped anything. We love macarons. We love SNICKERS candy bars. We even might love this fun combination of all of these things. But do we love it at this booth?

Mickey-Shaped Macaron

Well, it definitely tastes like Snickers! The whole dessert is super heavy and overpowering. It isn’t at all light like a typical macaron. The ganache just totally dominates the taste. Like, we were a few bites into this one and needed a DRANK. The crunch of the nuts was nice, though. Yep, the ONLY NUTS THAT ARE AT THIS NUTS AND CHEESE BOOTH. Anyway, we wouldn’t get this again, but if you can tolerate super rich, decadent chocolate desserts, this might be for you.

Mickey-shaped Macaron made with SNICKERS bar pieces

This is the NUTS and CHEESE booth. There is hardly any cheese in this beautiful traitor. And the nuts? The pieces of SNICKERS bar offer the most subtle whisper of peanut. A ghostly presence of a nut, barely a nutty impression. This dessert could’ve been so much more! Give us peanut brittle-infused cheesecake, a mini pecan pie, cannoli with sweet ricotta and toasted macadamia nuts. The options are endless and vastly more creative. But Disney opted for the simple, the safe, and Instagrammable (because Mickey-shaped desserts are still adorable).

Let’s move on to the drink!

Drinks

In terms of drinks on this menu, we got the PB&J Whiskey Shake for $16.

PB&J Whiskey Shake

Redemption, is thy name PB&J Whiskey Shake? It could be! Let’s look at the ingredients! It’s made with Peanut butter whiskey, raspberry liqueur, vanilla ice cream, Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Co. Mexico Origin Coffee, and peanut butter & raspberry syrups, garnished with a raspberry.

PB&J Whiskey Shake

Ok, of all of the menu items here, this one may just do justice to showcasing the NUT portion of the Nuts About Cheese claim. Peanut butter whiskey and actual peanut butter in the cocktail could help this infusion of nuttiness overpower the other intense flavors going on like raspberry and coffee. But raspberry and coffee are STRONG flavors! We honestly wish we tasted the raspberry more. The coffee flavor totally takes over. It’s good, but not worth the price. $16 for this tiny drink is theft.

OVERALL

Are each of these individual items good? Yep. Would we be happy to order them and eat them any ol’ time of the year? Sure. But do they belong at the NUTS ABOUT CHEESE booth? No way. When you claim to be nuts about cheese (and we are the President of the Cheese fan club), we expect some bold cheesy power-players to be headlining the booth! We would come back for the Mac and Cheese, but that’s about it. Save your money on the rest of it.

Full Spread 2024

That’s it for this booth, but there’s a LOT more where that came from!

Click here to see FULL reviews of EVERY. SINGLE. BOOTH. at the Food & Wine Festival at Disneyland Resort!

Trying to plan the PERFECT trip to the Festival? We’ll be keeping you updated on all of the latest. Click our links below for the information you need to know:

• See our full page on the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival here
• Check out ALL of the Festival menus here

And stay tuned for more Disney news!

Keep Following Us For ALL the DCA Food & Wine Reviews and Details!

Will you be visiting the Food & Wine Festival? Tell us in the comments!

The post REVIEW: Nuts About Cheese Booth at the 2024 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival first appeared on the disney food blog.

One thing’s sure about this returning food booth: the eats and drinks are sure to be… D-Lish!!!

2024 booth

The sun is shining, it’s a beautiful day, and we’re hanging out on the West Coast for day one of the 2024 Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival in Disneyland Resort! Woohoo! The festival officially started up today and will run through April 22nd. Wondering just what you can eat at the D-Lish booth? Well, we’ve checked it out and now we’re sharing our FULL thoughts.

But enough about the logistics, let’s talk about that festival FUN! Now, of course, the fest comes with all sorts of special events, seminars, and more; but we’re focusing on the food (shocker, we know). There are over 10 Festival Marketplaces at this year’s festival, and each one serves up a twist on California-inspired cuisine!

Over at the D-Lish booth, we have:

Olive Oil Cake glazed with lemon curd, topped with vanilla bean Chantilly
Carbonara Garlic Mac & Cheese
Huckleberry-Citrus Cooler

Disney California Adventure pic.twitter.com/xMQ60iApWB

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) February 29, 2024

Menu

Over at the D-Lish booth, this booth is small but mighty! And it’s hosting one our blast from the past Best of the Fest picks from 2020!

Menu

Now that we’ve taken a look at the menu, let’s dive into the food itself!

Eats

First up, we grabbed the Carbonara Garlic Mac & Cheese featuring Nueske’s Peppered Bacon for $9. This hearty beauty won over our hearts in 2020, when it was featured at the Garlic Kissed booth. And for good reason. Garlic + Pasta + Cheese + Bacon = DFB heartthrob . All of those key ingredients have returned, but does it hold up to the memory?

Carbonara Garlic Mac & Cheese featuring Nueske’s Peppered Bacon

The answer is “Yes!” It’s super cheesy (and you know we LOVE that) and we love the texture the crunchy topping gives it. The bacon adds a nice saltiness.

So cheesy!

After our savory walk down memory lane, reminiscing about cheesy, bacony, mouthfuls, we saddled up for a little something sweet and NEW for this both. For dessert, we grabbed the Olive Oil Cake for $7. The Olive Oil Cake is glazed with lemon curd, topped with vanilla bean Chantilly, and finished with fresh candied lemons, strawberry crunch, and lemon-lime gelée. What better to help cut through the rich cheesy, salty, and rich pasta dish, than with a sweet and tart citrusy dessert?!

Olive Oil Cake

This cake has so much wonderful flavor with a mix of tart and sweetness. It’s refreshing and really tastes like spring. The cake is dense but moist. The vanilla bean Chantilly cream is light and airy and adds just an extra hint of sweetness. Confession time: we couldn’t stop eating this cake. Yes, D-Lish, we WILL be back.

So what about something to wash this food down with?

Drinks

And last but not least, we needed a little something to wash it all down with. We grabbed the Huckleberry-Citrus Cooler for $7. The Huckleberry-Citrus Cooler is non-alcoholic but still gives us those “treat yo’self” vibes. It is made with Gold Peak Black Tea, huckleberry and agave syrups, grapefruit soda, and lemon and orange juices garnished with an orange wedge. Perhaps the perfect drink to sippin’ on while you are in a rocking chair on your front porch watching the sunset.

Huckleberry Citrus Cooler

It really is delicious and so refreshing. You get a nice tart lemonade flavor, but it’s still on the sweeter side. Both flavors balance each other out, though. We’re thinking this drink might be SUPER popular.

OVERALL

We’re just going to tell you that if you only visit ONE food booth at this year’s festival, make it this one. Everything here was a 10 out of 10 for us and we’re already making plans to return later. Get the mac and cheese, get the cake, get the drink. Trust us.

Full Spread 2024

That’s it for this booth, but there’s a LOT more where that came from!

Click here to see FULL reviews of EVERY. SINGLE. BOOTH. at the Food & Wine Festival at Disneyland Resort!

Trying to plan the PERFECT trip to the Festival? We’ll be keeping you updated on all of the latest. Click our links below for the information you need to know:

• See our full page on the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival here
• Check out ALL of the Festival menus here

And stay tuned for more Disney news!

Keep Following Us For ALL the DCA Food & Wine Reviews and Details!

Will you be visiting the Food & Wine Festival? Tell us in the comments!

The post REVIEW: D-Lish at the 2024 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival first appeared on the disney food blog.

There are several new theme parks in the works in the U.S.

©American Heartland

We’ve been talking a LOT recently about Universal’s Epic Universe, as well as another experience Universal has planned for Texas. But we also recently told you about a theme park being built right in the middle of the U.S. called American Heartland which is being built by former Disney Imagineers. But the more we think about this new theme park, the more we’re noticing that it’s sounding a lot like, well…a Disney Park.

American Heartland will be built across 1,000 acres and will include a theme park, a water park, a large RV park with cabins, a dinner theater, an amphitheater, a swimming pool, a clubhouse, and more. The theme park will span 125 acres of that property, which makes it about the size of Magic Kingdom at Disney World. It’s also expected to open in the fall of 2026.

©American Heartland

But this theme park might have even MORE in common with Magic Kingdom, as well as Disneyland than you might think. So we recently got more details about the six lands the park would have. While we were looking over that information, we thought, “Hmmm… this sounds familiar.”

For example, one of the lands is Liberty Village, where you will “walk the streets of this charming American town, where friendly shopkeepers are always glad to see you, and hard-working residents welcome you into their bustling daily life.” The description sounds almost identical to Main Street, U.S.A., but we’re getting Liberty Square references, too, both from the name and, well, this — something that looks a LOT like the Liberty Bell is in the concept art.

©American Heartland

Big Timber Falls is already sounding a LOT like Frontierland. The description includes things like “a rugged American adventure full of rushing rivers, soaring peaks, and ancient legends.” It also says, “all throughout this bold land, you’ll find bravery, brawn, and inspiration.” This land also includes a log flume ride that could be very similar to what was once Splash Mountain.

©American Heartland

Bayou Bay almost feels like an extension of Disneyland’s New Orleans Square. It’s described as “a swampy hideaway where you can find mystery, magic (calling Dr. Facilier!), and some of the cutest critters this side of the Mississippi.” As far as food goes, gumbo is mentioned, but there’s also a mention of Zyedeco music and gator-filled waters. Rides will include a Swamp Thrill Ride, a Pirates Stunt show (hello, Pirates of the Caribbean), a Voodoo House, and something called Critter Tales.

©American Heartland

Then there’s Electropolis, which immediately gives us Tomorrowland vibes. It’s described as “a bright, bold vision of the American age of innovation.” Even the concept art gives off Tomorrowland vibes. Check out this area called Electro City.

©American Heartland

Electropolis also offers a “peak into the future” (yes, we think “peek” was misspelled here on purpose by American Heartland). But that’s literally what Tomorrowland is about, too — it’s a vision of the future. These two visions also have very similar retro-futuristic designs.

©American Heartland

The Great Plains land will feature Native American traditions and stories. Although the land will also have a barnstormer attraction and a Charlotte’s Web-inspired experience, the Native American aspect makes us think of an abandoned Disney theme park once known as Disney’s America. Many ideas were thrown out for this theme park that never was, but one idea was an experience based on Native American traditions and stories.

However, some of the concept art for the Great Plans is also giving us Living with the Land vibes (okay, it’s the farmhouse).

©American Heartland

Imagine if Disney’s Yacht Club Resort were made into a land. It might very well be like American Heartland’s Stony Point Harbor, which is inspired by a typical coastal town. However, this version of a coastal town has a search for a legendary sea monster and a haunted lighthouse.

©American Heartland

Now, it makes sense that so many of these ideas seem like things Disney has either done or, at the very least, thought of. This project is being created by former Imagineers, who could not have helped but be influenced by their previous jobs. As they say, “everything old is new again,” so we’ll have to see if American Heartland can create something NEW that could even appeal to avid Disney Parks fans.

Stay tuned to DFB for more.

Everything You Need To Know About Magic Kingdom in 600 Words or LESS

What do you think? Do you think this park will be similar — at least in some ways — to Disney Parks? Will that appeal to people? Sound off in the comments!

The post No One’s Talking About This WEIRD Coincidence With Former Disney Imagineers’ NEW Theme Park first appeared on the disney food blog.