The 8 Things You Should Eat and Drink at the Disney California Adventure Festival of the Holidays

It’s the most wonderful time of year at Disney California Adventure Park because the Disney Festival of Holidays has returned! The 2024 Festival will run from November 15th, 2024 through January 6th, 2025! 

Festival of Holidays

The Festival features unique merchandise, special entertainment, and (of course) all kinds of food. We’ve shared the full festival menus and reviews of the booths, but what if you’re looking for a quick list of the TOP items you cannot miss? Well, now we’ve got you covered with that, too!

Click here to subscribe

Here are our picks for the very BEST items at the Festival of Holidays!

Best NEW Eats and Drinks at the Festival

Sticky Toffee Pudding Macaron at Favorite Things

The Sticky Toffee Pudding Macaron is a Mickey-shaped chocolate macaron filled with vanilla buttercream, date cake, and salted toffee sauce. Not only is it adorable, but it’s one of our favorite things we ate during the festival. The salted toffee flavor works so well with the sweet vanilla buttercream, but it’s not SUPER sweet.

Sticky Toffee Pudding Macaron

We seriously think this could be our favorite macaron we’ve ever had in Disneyland.

Read our full review here

Barbecue Pulled Pork Cornbread Bake at A Twist on Tradition

The Barbecue Pulled Pork Cornbread Bake with creamy slaw instantly became one of our Best of the Festival snacks this year. The cornbread is so sweet and the barbecue saw is tangy, and it just WORKS. We also liked that the cornbread has actual pieces of corn inside it, PLUS it’s served warm with the slaw.

Barbecue Pulled Pork Cornbread Bake with creamy slaw

This one stuck out to us as one of the best snacks we ate all day. We’ll be coming back for this one.

Read our full review

Jelly Donut Punch at Winter Sliderland

As far as drinks go, the non-alcoholic Jelly Donut Punch, made with Apricot Nectar, house-made raspberry and strawberry jam syrup, cookie butter, and lemon juice garnished with a skewered powdered sugar donut hole, seriously wowed us. This was probably our favorite drink at the festival (and we had some great drinks).

Jelly Donut Punch

The donut was moist and sweet, and we loved the punch because we could taste almost every ingredient in it. This was a HUGE hit with us.

Read our full review

Chicken Chicharrón at Brews & Bites

The Chicken Chicharrón with basmati rice, herb chutney and masala drizzleis the only eat at Brews & Bites, but it’s a snack we’ll definitely be ordering again. It has a slight kick to it, with some Mediterranean and Indian flavors, thanks to the spices. It’s tangy and citrusy and every flavor works perfectly.

Chicken Chicharrón with basmati rice, herb chutney and masala drizzle

The chicken stayed nice and crispy even with all the sauce on top, too.

Read our review

Best RETURNING Eats and Drinks at the Festival

Savory Kugel Mac & Cheese at Holiday Duets

The Savory Kugel Mac & Cheese, made with herb breadcrumbs, sour cream, and chives, was one of our favorite eats at the festival. It’s just so creamy and rich!

Savory Kugel Mac & Cheese

We loved the addition of the chives, which added a great depth of flavor. This new snack costs $8.50. Last year, this dish was at A Twist on Tradition.

Read our full review here!

Barbacoa Tamal de Res at Grandma’s Recipes

Grandma did not disappoint! The Barbacoa Tamal de Res with Oaxaca cheese, tomatillo salsa, and crema was fantastic. The meat is well-seasoned, and it’s got some heat to it. Then there’s the cheese mixed with the crema. This is just a wonderful explosion of flavors.

Barbacoa Tamal de Res

This snack had SUCH a good flavor — we loved the tomatillo salsa verde. It was fresh and spicy but had a mild spice level overall. The masa shell isn’t dry at all — it was moist and was a nice complement to the beef inside.

Read our full review here!

Berry Pomegranate Paloma at A Twist on Tradition

The Berry Pomegranate Paloma for $18 is made with Blanco Tequila, blueberry purée, lime, cranberry and pomegranate juices, and agave syrup, topped with fresca mixed vodka spritz and garnished with an orange wheel and chile lime-seasoned rim. You’ll find this drink at A Twist on Tradition this year — in 2023 it was at Grandma’s Recipes.

Berry Pomegranate Paloma

This was also a hit — it reminded us of a berry sangria! We loved the addition of the Tajin-seasoned rim. It was fresh and fruity. We’d definitely get this one again.

Read our full review here!

Pork Belly Adobo at Favorite Things

At Favorite Things, you’ll find another one of our FAVORITE snacks (so the name of this booth really fits) — the Braised Pork Belly Adobo, which is served with garlic fried rice. This is one we loved in 2023 (and years past) and once again it’s a winner!

Braised Pork Belly Adobo with garlic rice

This dish is flavorful, the pork is moist and easily just pulls apart. Though the rice is fairly standard, the meat makes this snack stand out!

Click here to see our full review of Favorite Things!

Best Booth at the Festival

Best Booth — Favorite Things

We found many of our favorite things at the Favorite Things booth, and it certainly lived up to its name. The Braised Pork Belly Adobo has been a favorite of ours every year, while the Sticky Toffee Pudding Macaron is the best macaron we think we’ve ever had in Disneyland — and it gets bonus points for presentation.

Our Favorite Things

We also grabbed the  Spiced Coconut Cocktail for $17.50 here, which is made with dark rum, spice tea, coconut purée, and evaporated and condensed milks, garnished with nutmeg and a wafer stick. This drink is literally what Christmas tastes like. It’s a wonderful blend of wintry flavors with a hint of nutmeg spice on top.

See our full review of this booth here!

Runner-Up — A Twist on Tradition

Coming in at a very close second place is A Twist on Tradition. The Barbecue Pulled Pork Cornbread Bake was, as mentioned above, one of our best of the festival picks, and the Turkey Galantine Croissant Muffin Slider with herb mayo and cranberry marmalade was VERY flavorful.

A Twist on Tradition

Of course, there’s also the Berry Pomegranate Paloma, which we love year after year — and it’s a drink we’ll keep coming back for.

See our review of this booth here!

Best of the Festival for Kids

M&M’S Peanut Butter Fudge Cake at Merry Mashups

What kid wouldn’t love M&Ms on a fudgy cake? The M&M’s Peanut Butter Fudge Cake is a chocolate fudge cake filled with peanut praline and M&M’S Peanut Butter Minis, glazed with salted peanut butter, and is topped with vanilla Chantilly crème. Yes, it’s a win!

M&M’S Peanut Butter Fudge Cake at Merry Mashups

It is extremely rich and fudgy, so you might want to make sure your kid shares with you.

Read our full review

Cookies and Cream Hazelnut Hot Cocoa at Winter Sliderland

Hot cocoa is always going to be a hit with kids, and we think kids will like this twist on a traditional hot cocoa. The Cookies and Cream Hazelnut Hot Cocoa is made with Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Co. hot chocolate with cookies and cream flavors, melted chocolate, hazelnut purée, and Irish cream syrup garnished with strawberry whipped cream.

Cookies and Cream Hazelnut Hot Cocoa

It’s sweet and delicious, and the strawberry whipped cream on top is just yummy and fun.

Read our full review

And those are our picks for the very BEST of the Fest at the Festival of Holidays in Disney California Adventure Park. What items do you think you’d most want to try? Tell us in the comments!

For our reviews of all the snacks we tried at this year’s festival, click here. Stay tuned for more news.


Want to Learn More About Disneyland?

Check Out the Links Below!

Click HERE to Check Out Lots of Other DFB Posts About Disneyland

Join the DFB Newsletter To Get All the Latest Disney News Delivered Right to Your Inbox! Click here to Subscribe

Which of these items do you want to try? Tell us in the comments!

The post The 8 Things You Should Eat and Drink at the Disney California Adventure Festival of the Holidays first appeared on the disney food blog.