Pixar Fest is here! Disney is celebrating the transition of several older attractions and restaurants at Disney’s California Adventure into ones based on Pixar films and characters. As Disney fans, and due to my husband needing a break from a stressful work schedule, we made the trip to check it out. He was already on a work trip, so he added a day and I joined him. We did Pixar Fest in one day!
In order to do Pixar Fest in one day we rode only two rides and instead focused on food, drinks, and sights such as characters and souvenirs. Most of the food and attractions for Pixar Fest are geared toward all age groups, but we found a few that adults would enjoy more than children.
Food
There is a large selection of unique food items available for Pixar Fest. The selections are so numerous that the one-day attendee can in no way eat one of everything! Thus, we enjoyed some desserts, fast food items, and a couple of entrees targeted to the adult Disney fans.
If you want a check list of the food and drinks specific to Pixar Fest, this Pixar Fest Food List by The Disney Belles is perfect to take with you so you can check off each item as you try it. (Scroll to the bottom of their page to get the link to the PDF.)
Our places of choice for food, since we only had so much time, ended being the Jolly Holiday, Café Orleans, Corn Dog Castle, Cozy Cone, Paradise Garden Grill, and Schmoozies.
Jolly Holiday
“Up” Merit Badge Éclair
Filled with peanut butter and jelly flavors, this eclair will take any adult back to childhood. (Apologies that I ate one of the candy badges before taking the photo!)
Café Orleans
Cafe Orleans offers a trio dinner package that contains a cheese and fruit platter and shrimp ratatouille and stuffed beignets. (Not pictured here are the stuffed beignets, which tasted much like stuffed donut holes.) The dinner pays tribute to the movie Ratatouille.
Specialty Cheese Flight
In an homage to the scene in Ratatouille where Remy has his brother try some fruit and cheese together, this plate is comprised of various goat and cow’s milk cheeses paired with dried fruit and honeycomb. The pairings were decent, and honeycomb was delicious. Only the presentation was lacking, much like it was thrown together. However, we still enjoyed it.
Shrimp Ratatouille Byaldi
This was my husband’s main dish. He is the seafood lover between the two of us. Although, I had a tiny bite of the shrimp and determined it had a good flavor. It is relatively difficult to infuse shrimp with flavor, and these had flavor all the way through. In general, the sauce is a bit like marinara. The layers in the ratatouille are zucchini, yellow squash, tomato, and eggplant. My husband enjoyed everything except for the eggplant, and that’s only because he isn’t a fan of it. He said the dish overall was quite good.
As an additional plate, since the trio is technically for one person, and I don’t eat seafood, we also ordered a chicken dish.
Bourbon Street Chicken
The Bourbon Chicken is a standard item on the Cafe Orlean’s menu. The chicken was nicely cooked, and the bourbon sauce gave just enough flare. The best part was the fried kale on top. Nice and crisp! I was literally eating it by itself because it was so good.
Corn Dog Castle
I kept reading about how good Disney’s hand dipped corn dogs are compared to store bought ones. So, I decided to give one a try. Of course, I went with the Pixar Fest specialty one! It is based off the Incredibles movie.
Tempermental Taste-Shifting Corn Dog
This is probably the best corn dog I have ever eaten! There are three layers. The layers being spicy sausage, spicy cheese, and then another spicy sausage. The Blackberry Serano Chili Sauce served with it is the perfect accent to the heat. A better picture would have been to slice it down the center so you could see the layers. This picture doesn’t do it justice. It was so good!
Paradise Garden Grill
While I was eating my corn dog, my husband decided to get his dinner at the Paradise Garden Grill. Many of their dishes are tied to the Pixar film Coco. We also purchsed the Pixar Fest cake from here. (Note: The candy Pixar Ball on the Paradise Garden Grill version is flat. If you purchase the cake at the Plaza Inn the ball is 3D.)
Tacos de Estilo Callejero
Sirloin beef tacos served with rice and beans. Decent tacos and the rice and beans made the dish filling. The flavor was good but the beef quality could have been better.
Pixar Lemon Raspberry Cake
The main dessert of Pixar Fest and talked about all by most every Disney food blogger. We found the cake to be nice and moist. The best layer, and most flavorful, was the lemon. The raspberry was also decent. Unfortunately, the blue layer tasted…well, blue.
Cozy Cone
Ah, the Cozy Cone. Where you think only kid food is served. We have discovered that is definitely not the case. (The beverage one even has mixed drinks that sound amazing and we plan to try on our next trip.) On this trip we decided to try the meatballs and elote in a cup.
Miss Fritter’s Meatball Cone-frontation
Let me start by saying ground turkey isn’t my thing. It rarely gets enough flavor compared to ground beef. However, Disney did a decent job with this dish by coating the meatballs and pasta (at the bottom) in a fabulous Habanero Derby Sauce. There was just enough kick to give it the zing the ground turkey needed. This was by far my husband’s favorite dish.
Champion’s Corn Cup
By far my favorite snack item this trip! I love elote, and this is basically elote in a cup. No messy hands. No sour cream and Tajin dripping down the side of your mouth (although, that is part of the joy of eating it on the cob!), just yummy corn goodness in a cup.
Schmoozies
A cute little smoothie and donut shop in the back of California Adventure near Monster’s Inc., I knew I had to try the Mike Wazowski donut. I love anything with marshmallow creme!
Mike Wazowski Flaky Donut
Sweet, sweet, sweet! This was an incredibly, over the top, sweet donut. When I say sweet I mean all sugar. This wasn’t a bad thing, it just meant I had a few bites and had to call it quits, but only after eating as much of the marshmallow creme filling as I could. The donut is flaky and crunchy and is filled with marshmallow creme and topped with icing and more marshmallows.
Drinks
After searching Disney blog posts, and watching Youtube videos, about Pixar Fest, we figured out that there weren’t any adult beverages really created for Pixar Fest, at least we couldn’t find any. However, California Adventure does have several locations within the park where you can get these refreshments. On this trip we went to the Hollywood Lounge and Bayside Brews.
Hollywood Lounge
The Hollywood Lounge is tucked in the back of California Adventure near the Monster’s Inc. ride. We discovered it on our last visit and decided to give it a try this time around. They have a decent brew selection, a few mixed drinks, and then some non-alcohol based drinks for children. We aren’t sure if this is their standard menu or if it changes by season.
The Backlot Michelada
My husband loves his Michelada drinks. He was able to try their holiday version last November, so he was all excited to get this one. He even preferred this one as it has a Tajin rim versus a brown sugar rim.
Infini-Tea
My first drink of the day and it didn’t disappoint. It was much like a Long Island Iced Tea.
Spider Venom
First off, the name is nothing like the drink! I almost didn’t get it because I have family that read my blog, and I can just see the look on their faces now due to the name. However, the ingredients got my attention. Tropical rum flavors sounded yummy. It did not disappoint.
Bayside Brews
Towards the end of the day we each wanted one last drink. My husband purchased another Michelada, but I went for a delicious margarita.
Pomegranate Margarita
The pomegranate comes through so well and the flavors are blended perfectly!
Souvenirs
The souvenir specialty items for Pixar Fest are abundant, but the most popular ones sell out quickly. Several weren’t even in stock when we were there, and Disney is only about two months into the festival and it lasts through September 3rd (about five months). We went hoping for at least three items, and we were lucky enough to get them. The other two items we had on our list (the Pixar Fest pin and Woody’s Boot) were completely sold out, and the cast members had no idea when they would be back in stock.
Sulley Popcorn Bucket & Mike Wazowski Sipper
My husband loves the special popcorn buckets from Disney. In all honesty, I do as well. We have a few of the Christmas ones that we put out every December. So, the Sulley bucket was top on our list and the sipper makes it a cute duo. They were selling out, though, so the park now allows one bucket per transaction to be purchased. If you are really desperate for one, and can’t make it to Pixar Fest, you can find them selling on eBay for outrageous prices.
Remy Spoon
There are many more items available, if you desire to spend more than we did at Pixar Fest! The Remy Spoon is available for purchase at Cafe Orleans and The Red Rose Taverne.
Thoughts
Between the food and drinks, we had a lot of fun. There weren’t a lot of children at the park the day we went, so it made for a quieter visit than usual. The best time for adults to go to Pixar Fest is during the day when most children are still in school and before summer break begins. If you are an adult Pixar fan, then you’ll love seeing all the new food stands and attractions and the characters!
