Festival of Holidays 2022
It's that time of year again for the Festival of Holidays at DCA. We ran into a snag once we were there. That is to say, there was a long line to get in the parking structure and then again for the trams. We had to wait for three or four trams before we got on. It literally took us an hour and a half from the time we left the house to actually getting in the park. I don't know if it was just bad timing or what, but that was the worst I'd seen it in a while. It was busy, yes, but still somewhat manageable. Also like last time, it was warmer than expected. It was a bit overdressed, but it was fine.
So, the first thing to do was kill some time before trying out some holiday foods. I wasn't going to make the same mistake again as last time by going on Soarin' to kill time lol. We went on Mater's. The wait time said 25 minutes. It was about 20. That ride's always a fun time, getting whipped around. This time singing silly holiday songs like the tractor song sung to the theme of the dreidel song.
After the ride and a bathroom stop, I asked my mom if we should just start tasting the food now. She gave an enthusiastic “OK!” It was about 11 am, so we ate early. Our first stop was at the Winter Sliderland booth. I ordered the Holiday Ham Slider and my mom got the Brisket Slider. Mine came with ham with cranberry bacon jam and Gruyere cheese on a salt and pepper brioche bun. It was fine except I didn't taste any cheese (did they put any on there?) nor did I taste any bacon in the cranberry jam. Cranberry is not really my jam (heh) unless as juice, but it was all right. It was just a whole lot of ham and bun. I had a bite of my mom's however, and dang that was good. Hers came with brisket, smoked onions and horseradish ketchup on a pretzel roll. I was a little wary of tasting it because I associate horseradish with spice, but it wasn't spicy. I didn't notice the onions either. Good stuff. My mom wanted to buy a whole bunch to take home lol.
After that, I really could use a drink, so my mom ordered this blood orange pomegranate limeade for us to share. It was fruity and refreshing. Next we went to Merry Mashups, where I got the Esquites Carnitas Mac & Cheese. It was mac & cheese, carnitas, spiced puffed rice (basically rice krispies), freeze dried corn and cilantro. I enjoyed this one, but the rice krispies were definitely spicy. I didn't finish it. My mom ordered the Turkey Poutine which had turkey cubes, sweet potato bites, frosted cranberries, gravy, and cheese curds. I tried hers and didn't like any part of it lol. My mom seemed to like it OK though.
Finally, we got some dessert. I got the Santa's Milk & Cookies hot cocoa and my mom got a little pumpkin cheesecake. The cocoa was so good. It really tasted like milk and cookies. That was probably my favorite thing I tried. My mom's pumpkin cheesecake was good too. There was one other thing I was going to try not connected to the festival, but that was across the way at Disneyland. A special kind of doughnut at Jolly Holiday. However, I was too full to go there, so perhaps next time. All in all I was pretty satisfied with the food offerings this time around.
As for what we did for the rest of the time, well one thing I wanted to check out was that they are celebrating Black Panther, and there was something I wanted to see in the Avengers Superstore. They had the costumes from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on display inside, so that was cool. Then we stopped by the Christmas tree to get a selfie. The last thing I wanted to do was check out the gingerbread house in the Grand Californian, even though I knew we would get flagged again with our passes. It's not actually finished yet, so I'll be sure to check it out next time as the last thing we do.
Sure enough, we did get flagged when trying to get into Disneyland lol. So we had to explain ourselves again and wait a little before the cast member cleared us. I wish we knew what the cool down period was before we could crossover. I think it's a little ridiculous. I know they're trying to prevent non-passholders from using someone else's pass, but they should have your picture in the system. Maybe I want to go back and forth between the two parks multiple times for whatever reason. I can't do that? Never had this problem when we still had cards.
There was one thing I wanted to see first on Main Street, and that was the tree slice from the trees that they had to chop down in the Pirates queue. They are actually selling the slices and it had a decorative frame, and different dates on the tree rings, when certain things in Disneyland's history happened. It's a cool way to memorialize the trees, but it cost $6500. Ouch. After that, my mom asked me what I wanted to do next. I asked if I could tempt her with Rise (Rise of the Resistance). Of course she enthusiastically started yanking me in that direction lol. We got there and the wait time was an hour. Of course looking at how extended the queue was, I knew it probably wasn't going to be an hour. There was one area in the outside section that we were standing still for a while. They must have just sent a bunch of Lightning Lanes through. Once we were inside though, it moved at a pretty good pace. The wait ended up being 75 minutes.
It was about 3:30 now when we got out and I thought we'd go check out Fantasyland, when I suddenly remembered that I wanted to ride Small World Holiday, so we headed in that direction. Let me tell you, we had the best timing because the Christmas Fantasy Parade was going on at the same time, and no one was getting in line for It's A Small World. The line was nearly a walk on, and we got to enjoy a little of the parade too while in line. I always admire the holiday decor on It's A Small World. It's magical.
While in line, we decided we'd take the train back to Main Street. That would give us another ride. However, it was a twenty minute wait, so I suggested we go to the Tomorrowland station because usually there's not as many people at that station. The wait was more reasonable, but we still had to wait for a second train to come. By this time it was going on 4:30. Later than we'd usually stay. Part of me wanted to stick around longer to at least be able to see the lights because I never get to stay at Disneyland after dark. After arriving in Main Street, we went in the Emporium store. I showed my mom some cute Christmassy Ewok merchandise. My mom also wanted to get some gingerbread cookies to bring home from the candy shop, but they were sold out. So, we got the idea to see if the La Brea Bakery outside the park had any. But first, we were just in time for the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, so we stood there and watched. That was another magical moment watching the lights come on. It made me happy.
Well, La Brea Bakery didn't have anything good, so our other option was to check a couple other places in Downtown Disney. Yeah, who cares how late it's getting. But, no such luck. We stopped by the Jazz Kitchen, which had a special holiday beignet, but it didn't exactly entice me. So, we gave up and decided to go home. My mom lamented the fact that she didn't get the gingerbread cookies when she saw them at the little holiday cart in the Grand Californian lobby. Oh well.
Not too bad of a visit. My mom did occasionally annoy me when she was texting her tennis friends about an upcoming match, and I probably wanted more time even though we stayed later than usual, but the food was good, and there were a few magical moments to be had.
So, the first thing to do was kill some time before trying out some holiday foods. I wasn't going to make the same mistake again as last time by going on Soarin' to kill time lol. We went on Mater's. The wait time said 25 minutes. It was about 20. That ride's always a fun time, getting whipped around. This time singing silly holiday songs like the tractor song sung to the theme of the dreidel song.
After the ride and a bathroom stop, I asked my mom if we should just start tasting the food now. She gave an enthusiastic “OK!” It was about 11 am, so we ate early. Our first stop was at the Winter Sliderland booth. I ordered the Holiday Ham Slider and my mom got the Brisket Slider. Mine came with ham with cranberry bacon jam and Gruyere cheese on a salt and pepper brioche bun. It was fine except I didn't taste any cheese (did they put any on there?) nor did I taste any bacon in the cranberry jam. Cranberry is not really my jam (heh) unless as juice, but it was all right. It was just a whole lot of ham and bun. I had a bite of my mom's however, and dang that was good. Hers came with brisket, smoked onions and horseradish ketchup on a pretzel roll. I was a little wary of tasting it because I associate horseradish with spice, but it wasn't spicy. I didn't notice the onions either. Good stuff. My mom wanted to buy a whole bunch to take home lol.
After that, I really could use a drink, so my mom ordered this blood orange pomegranate limeade for us to share. It was fruity and refreshing. Next we went to Merry Mashups, where I got the Esquites Carnitas Mac & Cheese. It was mac & cheese, carnitas, spiced puffed rice (basically rice krispies), freeze dried corn and cilantro. I enjoyed this one, but the rice krispies were definitely spicy. I didn't finish it. My mom ordered the Turkey Poutine which had turkey cubes, sweet potato bites, frosted cranberries, gravy, and cheese curds. I tried hers and didn't like any part of it lol. My mom seemed to like it OK though.
Finally, we got some dessert. I got the Santa's Milk & Cookies hot cocoa and my mom got a little pumpkin cheesecake. The cocoa was so good. It really tasted like milk and cookies. That was probably my favorite thing I tried. My mom's pumpkin cheesecake was good too. There was one other thing I was going to try not connected to the festival, but that was across the way at Disneyland. A special kind of doughnut at Jolly Holiday. However, I was too full to go there, so perhaps next time. All in all I was pretty satisfied with the food offerings this time around.
As for what we did for the rest of the time, well one thing I wanted to check out was that they are celebrating Black Panther, and there was something I wanted to see in the Avengers Superstore. They had the costumes from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on display inside, so that was cool. Then we stopped by the Christmas tree to get a selfie. The last thing I wanted to do was check out the gingerbread house in the Grand Californian, even though I knew we would get flagged again with our passes. It's not actually finished yet, so I'll be sure to check it out next time as the last thing we do.
Sure enough, we did get flagged when trying to get into Disneyland lol. So we had to explain ourselves again and wait a little before the cast member cleared us. I wish we knew what the cool down period was before we could crossover. I think it's a little ridiculous. I know they're trying to prevent non-passholders from using someone else's pass, but they should have your picture in the system. Maybe I want to go back and forth between the two parks multiple times for whatever reason. I can't do that? Never had this problem when we still had cards.
There was one thing I wanted to see first on Main Street, and that was the tree slice from the trees that they had to chop down in the Pirates queue. They are actually selling the slices and it had a decorative frame, and different dates on the tree rings, when certain things in Disneyland's history happened. It's a cool way to memorialize the trees, but it cost $6500. Ouch. After that, my mom asked me what I wanted to do next. I asked if I could tempt her with Rise (Rise of the Resistance). Of course she enthusiastically started yanking me in that direction lol. We got there and the wait time was an hour. Of course looking at how extended the queue was, I knew it probably wasn't going to be an hour. There was one area in the outside section that we were standing still for a while. They must have just sent a bunch of Lightning Lanes through. Once we were inside though, it moved at a pretty good pace. The wait ended up being 75 minutes.
It was about 3:30 now when we got out and I thought we'd go check out Fantasyland, when I suddenly remembered that I wanted to ride Small World Holiday, so we headed in that direction. Let me tell you, we had the best timing because the Christmas Fantasy Parade was going on at the same time, and no one was getting in line for It's A Small World. The line was nearly a walk on, and we got to enjoy a little of the parade too while in line. I always admire the holiday decor on It's A Small World. It's magical.
While in line, we decided we'd take the train back to Main Street. That would give us another ride. However, it was a twenty minute wait, so I suggested we go to the Tomorrowland station because usually there's not as many people at that station. The wait was more reasonable, but we still had to wait for a second train to come. By this time it was going on 4:30. Later than we'd usually stay. Part of me wanted to stick around longer to at least be able to see the lights because I never get to stay at Disneyland after dark. After arriving in Main Street, we went in the Emporium store. I showed my mom some cute Christmassy Ewok merchandise. My mom also wanted to get some gingerbread cookies to bring home from the candy shop, but they were sold out. So, we got the idea to see if the La Brea Bakery outside the park had any. But first, we were just in time for the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, so we stood there and watched. That was another magical moment watching the lights come on. It made me happy.
Well, La Brea Bakery didn't have anything good, so our other option was to check a couple other places in Downtown Disney. Yeah, who cares how late it's getting. But, no such luck. We stopped by the Jazz Kitchen, which had a special holiday beignet, but it didn't exactly entice me. So, we gave up and decided to go home. My mom lamented the fact that she didn't get the gingerbread cookies when she saw them at the little holiday cart in the Grand Californian lobby. Oh well.
Not too bad of a visit. My mom did occasionally annoy me when she was texting her tennis friends about an upcoming match, and I probably wanted more time even though we stayed later than usual, but the food was good, and there were a few magical moments to be had.