We Tried EVERY Booth at Disney’s Festival of Holidays – Read Our FULL REVIEWS!

A popular festival has returned and we’re trying everything!

Festival of Holidays is BACK in Disney California Adventure and will run from November 15th, 2024 to January 6th, 2025. On top of the new entertainment at the festival (including an Encanto show and a Coco show), there are plenty of new menu items to try this year. So let’s get into it!

Brews & Bites — 3.5/5

At Brews & Bites, there’s only one bite this year – we have the Chicken Chicharrón served with basmati rice, herb chutney, and masala drizzle for $8. This had a little kick to it and there was some Mediterranean and Indian flare thanks to the herbs and spices. It was tangy and citrusy and all the flavors worked really well together. The chicken stayed nice and crispy even with the sauce on top. We’d definitely get this dish again!

For drinks, we’re trying the new Passion Fruit Rose Lassi for $7.50. It’s made with passion fruit nectar, yogurt, rose and honey syrups, and the finishing touch is a rose petal garnish. We wanted to like this, and while it had the hint of good flavors – the yogurt was pretty overpowering and made it slightly off-putting.

The Festive Beer Flight costs $18.50 and features Stone Brewing Company Pilsner ($16.25 individually), Garage Brewing Co. Churro Ale ($17.75 individually), Dust Bowl Brewing Company Winter Wonder IPA ($17.75 individually), and Naughty Sauce Noble Ale Works Golden Stout ($16.25 individually).

The Stone Brewing Company Pilsner is smooth and light – definitely something we could drink more than one of. The Garage Brewing Co. Churro Ale really tastes like a churro! It was sweet, but definitely tasty. The Dust Bowl Brewing Company Winter IPA is a true IPA but it features some winter spices to take it up a notch. Finally, the Naughty Sauce Noble Ale Works Golden Stout is a lightly colored stout, but it’s still heavy on both flavor and texture.

And finally, the Holiday Beer Flight is $19. It comes with LA Bodega Jamaica Hard Seltzer (which can be purchased on its own for $17.75), Green Cheek Beer Co. Hops for the Holidays IPA ($17.75 individually), Altamont Beer Works Juice Above the Clouds Double IPA ($17.75 individually), and Great Notion Brewing Single Stack St ($17.75 individually).

The LA Bodega Jamaica Hard Seltzer was light and fruity while being tangy and not too sweet. We thought the Green Cheek Beer Co. Hops for the Holidays IPA tasted more like a wheat beer than an IPA thanks to the citrus notes. The Great Notion Brewing Single Stack Stout is a coffee-forward stout – it was thick and rich with malty notes. And finally, the Altamont Beer Works Juice Above the Clouds Double IPA is a heavy hitter at 9% ABV – and it tastes like it, too!

Favorite Things — 5/5

The Braised Pork Belly Adobo, served with garlic rice, is a returning item. For $9.50, you get a delicious, well-seasoned, tender piece of meat topped with a crunch on top that gives us a pork rind vibe. The garlic rice adds a nice additional flavor to the dish as a whole. All the flavors and textures just meld together perfectly.

We also got the Sticky Toffee Pudding Macaron for $8. This is a new item that is filled with vanilla buttercream, date cake, and salted toffee sauce. Not only is it probably the most eye-catching thing we’ll eat at this festival, but it’s also quite tasty. The salted toffee flavor with the vanilla buttercream and the date cake create a perfect blend of flavors that isn’t too sweet. We’ve had a lot of macarons in Disneyland, but this could be the best. 

To wash it all down, we ordered the Spiced Coconut Cocktail for $17.50, made with dark rum, spice tea, coconut purée, and evaporated and condensed milks and is garnished with nutmeg and a wafer stick.

If the holidays had a flavor, this would be it. The strongest flavor is the coconut, followed by the rum, but the nutmeg adds the perfect amount of spice. This drink gave us that warm fuzzy Christmas feeling.

Grandma’s Recipes — 4/5

A returning snack is BACK again this year, and it’s called the Barbacoa Tamal de Res! This dish is served with Oaxaca cheese, tomatillo salsa and crema, and will cost you $9.25. This dish was sooo good, so we can see why it made an impression enough to return again this year! Be warned, though, the tomatillo salsa was pretty spicy and is a bit stronger than we’ve come to expect from Disneyland. If you’re not a fan of more than a low spice, then this probably isn’t a dish you’re going to enjoy. The meat inside the tamale was well-seasoned, but what really made this dish was the cheese mixed with crema. This dish felt fairly priced for what you get.

A new treat debuting this year is the Cookie Dough Yule Log for $8. If you’re a BIG fan of cookie dough…we think you’re gonna love this one! We’d even go as far as to say it’s a best-of-the-fest item for us. The chocolate in the center wasn’t too strong, which was something we were a bit concerned about at first glance. 

The buttercream used in this one is really soft and adds almost a vanilla flavor to the chocolate to help round out its flavor profile. It’s topped with some sprinkles and a white chocolate cookie, which makes it feel like a quintessential holiday treat you’d expect to find in Southern California. We can’t wait to grab this one again, and we think it could be easily shared between two people.

Last on our list for this booth was the Café de Olla Cold Brew, which comes in at $8.25. It’s made with Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Co. Mexico Origin Coffee, low fat and condensed milks, house-made spiced syrup with star anise, clove, and cinnamon, then topped with a chocolate dulce de leche sweet cream. The finishing touch is a mini-pan dulce for garnish! The first thing we would recommend is to give it a quick stir; otherwise, you could get a big swig of dulce de leche. Even after we stirred it up, the dulce de leche was still the strongest flavor of this drink, but if you’re not expecting it, you could find it a bit odd. The pan dulce was almost like a sugary donut on top of the drink, which was so large it could almost pass as its own snack, so just be sure to save some extra room if you’re grabbing other things at this booth.

Overall, we were impressed with the food here and would highly recommend you stop to pick up the Yule Log on your own visit. That treat alone earned it a best of the fest place, in our opinion, this year! While the coffee drink here wasn’t anything that really knocked our socks off, the eats you can pick up here will certainly make up for that.

Holiday Duets — 4/5

At Holiday Duets, we started with the Chorizo Queso Fundido Mac & Cheese. This dish is complete with a tortilla crunch and costs $9. We were pleasantly surprised by this dish! The flavors were unique, and we were especially surprised that this dish was vegetarian as the “meat” tasted very meat-like. The tortilla crunch added the perfect amount of crunchy texture to the dish, and all of the ingredients worked really well together.

Next up, we tried the Savory Kugel Mac & Cheese for $8.50. It is finished with herb breadcrumbs, sour cream, and chives. This dish is super rich and creamy! It was full of cheesy goodness and plenty of sour cream. The breadcrumbs added a great texture, too. If you are looking for a rich mac & cheese, this dish will be a winner. 

Finally, we got the Cranberry Christmas Mule to wash it all down. The mule costs $17.50 and is a twist on a classic vodka Mule with gin, elderflower and ginger liqueurs, cherry purée, and cranberry & lime juices. Then, it is topped with a citrus hard seltzer and a lime wedge gummy. This was one of our favorite drinks, and it gave us all the Christmas vibes. While the drink is on the sweeter side, it isn’t too sweet, and the tartness of the cherry, cranberry, and lime flavors helps to balance out the sweetness. We didn’t taste too much of the alcohol, which made this a very easy drink to sip on.

Merry Mashups — 4/5

Disney’s Merry Mashups booth is serving two new menu items this year, including a Holiday Mash Bowl and the M&M’S Peanut Butter Fudge Cake.

First, we tried the Holiday Mash for $8.75. This dish is made with chicken, cheddar mashed potatoes, and turkey gravy, with a cranberry stuffing crunch. We really enjoyed this! It is a little bit salty, but you really can’t dislike mashed potatoes and chicken in a warm Thanksgiving-style meal. We didn’t see a super generous serving of gravy or stuffing, but we still really liked this new option.

Time for dessert! The M&M’S Peanut Butter Fudge Cake is $7.50. The cake consists of 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. One word: WOW! This was extremely rich and fudgy, so be prepared to share. The M&M’S Peanut Butter Minis are basically just Reese’s Pieces, which was a win for us. 

As you may see from the photos, that topping is a thick, sticky peanut butter, and the peanut praline is perfectly crunchy. 

We also tried the Glacier Margarita made with Blanco tequila, blue curaçao, coconut syrup, lime and white cranberry juice, and rosemary syrup garnished with champagne bubble candies on a skewer. This drink was found at A Twist on Tradition booth in 2023, and it’s $17.50 this year. We found this to be a sweet, slightly tart drink that was well-balanced.

Overall, we thought this booth was fantastic! The Holiday Mash Bowl was salty and satisfying, and our dessert was a peanut butter lover’s DREAM. Give this booth a try — you won’t be sorry.

A Twist on Tradition — 5/5

The Barbecue Pulled Pork Cornbread Bake with creamy slaw is definitely BOTF! The cornbread used in this dish was very sweet and the barbecue sauce was a little on the tangy side but nothing too overpowering. We were surprised to see and the cornbread had actual pieces of corn inside it and was served warm with the slaw (which we also found to be fairly average). It was pretty mild tasting but definitely one that stuck out to us above the rest. 

The Turkey Galantine Croissant Muffin Slider with herb mayo and cranberry marmalade was next and will cost you $9.

This one we found to be on the dry side which would have been more of a problem if the turkey and cranberry marmalade weren’t so good in this one! At first, we were interested in how peppery-tasting it was, but after mulling it around for a while we discovered the culprit of the peppery tang to be the herb mayo.

The returning Berry Pomegranate Paloma rounds us out for this review and is made with Blanco Tequila, blueberry purée, lime, cranberry and pomegranate juices, and agave syrup topped with Fresca and garnished with a chili-lime rim and orange wheel and is priced at a whopping $18. We thought this drink was pretty mild until we stirred it up and then it was MUCH stronger — which we would expect from an expensive drink for the festival. It was fresh and fruity with the addition of the lime, cranberry, and blueberry working together which gave it a sweet and tart taste. The chili-lime rim was made of Tajin and it was topped with a fresh orange slice to help bring this drink’s presentation together!

Winter Sliderland — 4/5

This booth is all about sliders! We grabbed the returning Beef Brisket Slider with smoked onions and horseradish ketchup on a pretzel roll for $9.25. This was a smoky, meaty masterpiece. We were hoping for more of a horseradish flavor to the ketchup, but it was delicious all the same. The pretzel roll was light and airy – not too tough like you sometimes get. The brisket was moist and tender and had a really great flavor.

Next, we grabbed the Al Pastor Pork & Pineapple Slider on corn brioche, also priced at $9.25. This one wasn’t as tasty as the brisket – but it was still a solid dish. Where it fell flat for us was that corn brioche bun – it was so, so dry and crumbly. The pork and pineapple go so well together, it’s smoky and spiced mixed with sweetness and tartness. With a different bun, this would be a winner!

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 for $6.50. You can also get a boozy version with Irish Cream liqueur for $17. This was definitely a sweet drink! But, it was delicious. The melted chocolate taste and the rich hazelnut paired really well with the strawberry whipped cream.

The Jelly Donut Punch is made with apricot nectar, house-made raspberry and strawberry jam syrup, cookie butter, and lemon juice garnished with a skewered powdered sugar donut hole. This is priced at $7.50. This was our favorite drink of the booth – and possibly the festival! The donut was moist and sweet, and we loved the punch itself. We could taste each ingredient – except for the cookie butter. Still, this was a hit!

Finally, we grabbed the Hot Butter Pecan Bourbon Cocktail made with bourbon, apple cider, butter, and butter pecan syrups garnished with a bitters apple butter pecan foam for $17.50. It’s pricey, but it’s STRONG. We could definitely taste the bourbon, and since it was hot the flavor was more pronounced. The apple butter pecan foam is the best part!

Aunt Cass Café — 4/5

We grabbed the new Pumpkin Spice Bread Pudding for $7.49. It’s made with a graham cracker crust topped with pumpkin cheesecake filling, whipped cream, graham cracker crumble, and an espresso brown sugar sauce.

The bread pudding itself didn’t have too much of a strong pumpkin flavor — but it had those spices you’ll find in pumpkin spice which helped it out. The texture was excellent — and the filling on top was definitely where the pumpkin flavor was hiding!

Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta — 5/5

The Holiday Pizza is back! comes with roasted turkey, roasted butternut squash, cranberries, arugula, fig jam, and cranberry sauce for $9.49. This was SO good.

The turkey provides a nice smokey flavor, which pairs so well with the fig jam and cranberries. The butternut squash adds a warm, nutty flavor that really brings everything together. It’s essentially a Thanksgiving pizza!

Cappuccino Cart — 4/5

Over at the Cappuccino Cart, we grabbed the Cinnamon Caramel Apple Bundt Cake for $7.25. 

It had the perfect sweet cinnamon apple flavor with just a hint of caramel. There wasn’t too much cream cheese frosting, but it wasn’t too sweet either.

Churros Near Goofy’s Sky School and Señor Buzz Churros — 3/5

The Popcorn Tin Churro comes with white cheddar popcorn dust and caramel sauce topped with buttered popcorn and costs $7.50. 

If you like kettle corn, this might be the perfect churro for you! It’s extremely caramel-forward, and the best bites were the ones that had popcorn for that sweet and salty mix.

Clarabelle’s Hand-Scooped Ice Cream — 2.5/5

At Clarabelle’s Hand-Scooped Ice Cream, you’ll find Holiday Confetti Cake with Häagen-Dazs Peppermint Bark Ice Cream, chocolate drizzle, whipped cream, and sprinkles for $6.99.

The cake was rather dry and basic — nothing to write home about. The peppermint ice cream was excellent, however, and really tasted like classic peppermint. This wasn’t our favorite, but peppermint fans might love it!

Corn Dog Castle — 4/5

At the Corn Dog Castle, you can grab the Stuffing Corn Dog for $13.29! It’s dipped in seasoned corn batter, fried to a golden brown, and topped with cranberry-mustard sauce.

The breading was perfectly crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, with an excellent herby flavor. The flavor combination of the savory batter with the salty corn dog paired so well with the cranberry mustard on top!

Smokejumpers Grill — 4/5

First up, we grabbed the Hearty Loaded Fries! The fries are smothered with sausage country gravy and topped with fried chicken, shredded cheese, and green onions. You can grab them for $8.99.

The gravy was definitely hearty and paired so well with the chicken strips and ooey-gooey, melted cheese. This was a really comforting dish that would make for a light meal!

The Santa Hat Shake costs $9.29 and is a peppermint shake in a marshmallow and coconut-rimmed cup topped with whipped cream and marshmallows.

This one kind of fell flat for us. The peppermint flavor was too light — it basically just tasted like a vanilla milkshake to us. The marshmallow and coconut rim didn’t add to the overall flavor, but it was messy!

Whew, we made it! Stay tuned to AllEars for more Disney reviews, news, and updates.

FULL MENUS Revealed for 2024 Festival of Holidays at Disneyland Resort

What is your favorite Disney festival of all time? Let us know in the comments!

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