Disneyland Resort Food & Wine Festival With Kids
*Includes updates for Food & Wine Festival 2020 Offerings*
I had an amazing time opening day at a media event tasting many of the vegan and vegetarian items during the 2020 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival! A couple days later, I went back to experience more of the tasty goodies alongside my daughter. While there, we got to experience the fun that the festival offers for kids!
Crafts for Kids
Near the Monsters Inc ride at the Hollywood Backlot are tables with crayons, and amazing cast members to help distribute items for your kids to make their own DIY chef’s hat! They get a paper chef’s hat and stickers, then head to the tables with crayons to decorate their hat (the center of it says “Chef” followed by a space for them to write their name). My daughter loved hers and wanted to wear it the rest of the day! While this is the only area to decorate the Chef’s hat, you can also pick up a paper Chef’s hat as you walk down Buena Vista Street.
Jr Chef
If you have a kid, you absolutely do not want to miss Jr Chef! It’s free to participate in, happening throughout the day, and open to kids ages 3-11. You can check here for showtimes which vary by day, or the Disneyland App. Head to the sound stage (next to the chef hat craft stations, near the Monsters Inc ride), and you will see cast members guiding guests where to go to line up for the opportunity. I recommend arriving 20-30 minutes prior to showtime. The Jr Chef cast members will then put the kids into groups, each group will have their own table on stage or at the foot of the stage with ingredients to make Blue Diamond Almond Oatmeal Cookies!
Her face when Chef Goofy came out!
Each table with ingredients has Jr Chef cast members to help the kids, and they’re great about making sure each child has the same amount of time mixing together ingredients. Chef Goofy comes out on stage and helps with the baking instructions! At the end, once the cookies are made with Disney magic, each child gets a Jr Chef packaged almond oatmeal cookie (they were delicious, by the way!). We spent about nine hours at the park this day going on a lot of rides, and my daughter said her favorite part of the day was Jr Chef, which speaks to how special it is!
Family Time
On Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 3pm also on the same Backlot Stage in Hollywood Land, you can experience Family Time. Chef Daniella Malfitano has a 30 minute appearance where she shares about the ways you can prepare and share a meal with your family. She uses her expertise to demonstrate how busy families can come together and bond over mealtime!
Meet Chef Goofy
New to Food & Wine Festival 2020, you can now meet Chef Goofy over near the Jr Chef stage! This will be the first time guests can do this character meet-and-greet aside from visiting Goofy’s Kitchen. Be sure to check the Disneyland app for meet-and-greet times!
Kid Friendly Food at Food & Wine Festival 2020
Throughout the festival path, you can find many kid-friendly food offerings. To make it easy to find them, the tasting passport (located near the festival maps at the entrance of the Food & Wine Festival paths) have a guide in the back which tells you which items are “kid-friendly.” Some of my daughter’s favorites were:
Nuts About Cheese
- (Vegetarian) Impossible Cheeseburger Mac & Cheese
Golden Dreams
- Strawberry-Rose Lemonade
Paradise Garden Grill
- (Vegan) Impossible “No Meat” Ball Submarine with Kettle Chips
Off the Cob
- Mickey-Shaped caramel-peanut milk chocolate macaron
Berry Patch
- Oikos Greek yogurt California berries summer pudding
Outdoor Vending Carts:
- (Vegan) Sweet Apple Empanada with Caramel
As mentioned, you can find all of the kid-friendly options in the tasting passport. For more vegan and vegetarian options, you can visit my food guide that shows all those options.
Amelia with the Impossible “No Meat” Ball Submarine from Paradise Garden Grill
Disneyland Resort’s Food & Wine Festival 2020 runs until April 21st!
