Food & Wine Festival Weekend Guide for April 8-10

Food & Wine Festival Weekend Guide for April 8–10

Today begins the second weekend of the 2016 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival. Here are the schedule highlights for the weekend, and operational changes you may want to know about before you head down for a day or two. Bookmark this page for quick reference during your visit, and check back next Friday for another weekend guide.

For comprehensive information about the Festival, including full menus for each of the eight Marketplace booths, check out Your Guide to the 2016 Disney California Food & Wine Festival.

The 2016 Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival runs through May 1. Photo by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix.

Tasting Passport price drop

Disney made an unexpected move this week, dropping the price of the Annual Passholder Tasting Passport by $6 from $45 to $39. When we first wrote about this passholder offer, we cautioned readers to crunch the numbers for themselves before they bought it, as we thought the pass was a waste of money at $45.

At $39, the pass offers a better value to annual passholders, but only to purchase items that cost $6 or more. If you get the passport, you're still better off paying cash for anything under $6, which includes all of the desserts and non-alcoholic beverage options.

The Tasting Passport is available for purchase outside the Blue Sky Cellar, which is open as a passholder lounge everyday during the Food & Wine Festival.

The Blue Sky Cellar hosts a lounge for annual passholders during the Food & Wine Festival. Photo by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix.

DCA restaurant menus

Each weekend during the Festival, the Carthay Circle Restaurant features a special dish created just for the event. For the weekend of April 8–10, the special offers are:

Lunch – Skuna Bay salmon poke with grapefruit ponzu, avocado, sea beans and edamame with crispy rice cracker.
Dinner – Petite filet of angus beef slowly based ox tail, ditali pasta, English peas, and apricot coulis

Celebrity Kitchen schedule

Celebrity Kitchen events are 90-minute seminars presented in a “network-quality demonstration kitchen” inside Stage 17. These hard-ticket events start at $99 per person, and include an autograph session after the presentation. Annual passholders also have the option for the Celebrity Kitchen VIP Experience, which includes “a VIP autograph session with the Celebrity Chef, front-of-house priority seating, and a special festival gift.” The passholder-exclusive package is $149 per person, plus tax.

One late-breaking announcement was the addition of a new event called “A Conversation with Kurt Russell” on Saturday, April 16. Per Disney, “This special event will be a 90-minute question and answer session with Disney Legend Kurt Russell about his adventures and personal journey in winemaking, complete with wine tasting.” The cost is $199 per person, and can only be booked by calling (714) 781-3463.

Seminars are held inside Stage 17 at 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., unless otherwise noted. Make reservations via the Disneyland website. The Celebrity Kitchen VIP Experience is available only to Disneyland Resort Annual Passholders, and must be booked by phone at (714) 781-3463.

Date	Event
Saturday, April 9	1:00 p.m. – Andrew Sutton 5:00 p.m. – Guy Fieri (sold out as of press time)

Wine, Beer and Spirit seminars

The Wine, Beer and Spirit seminars are hosted on this outdoor patio. Photo by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix.

Seminars are held at the Sonoma Terrace, and are limited to 75 people per class. The price is $15 per person, plus tax. Make reservations via the Disneyland website. All participants must be age 21 or older to enter the venue; children and no strollers are not allowed in the seminars.

Date	Event
Friday, April 8	2:00 p.m. – Wine Seminar: Kitá Wines – Tara Gomez, Winemaker 4:00 p.m. – Wine Seminar: Mellowood Winery – Linda Neal, Owner 6:00 p.m. – Spirits Seminar: Kill Devil Spirits Co. – Ray Diglio
Saturday, April 9	Noon – Wine Seminar: Kitá Wines – Tara Gomez, Winemaker 2:00 p.m. – Wine Seminar: Mellowood Winery – Linda Neal, Owner 4:00 p.m. – Wine Seminar: Twomey Cellars – Erin Miller, Winemaker 6:00 p.m. – Spirits Seminar: Alma de Agave – Nene Gonzalez
Sunday, April 10	Noon – Wine Seminar: Sparkling Around the World – Champagne, Cava, Proseco 2:00 p.m. – Wine Seminar: Twomey Cellars – Erin Miller, Winemaker 4:00 p.m. – Wine Seminar: Mellowood Winery – Linda Neal, Owner 6:00 p.m. – Spirits Seminar: Alma de Agave – Nene Gonzalez

Culinary demonstrations

These free seminars take place at the Backlot Stage in Hollywood Land. Bench seating under a canopy is available, but can fill fast. Samples and tastings are not offered.

Chef Jamie Gwen presents one of the culinary demonstrations during the Food & Wine Festival. Photo by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix.

Date	Event
Friday, April 8	2:30 p.m. – Culinary Demonstration: Elaine Ardizzone & Donna Cellere, Sweet Cheeks Baking Co. 4:30 p.m. – Culinary Demonstration: Ida Rodriguez, Chef, Melissa's Produce 6:30 p.m. – Culinary Demonstration: Matt Dhillon, Chef, Osteria Vicario
Saturday, April 9	12:30 p.m. – Culinary Demonstration: Jonathan Rollo, Chef/Owner, Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop 2:30 p.m. – Culinary Demonstration: Ida Rodriguez, Chef, Melissa's Produce 4:30 p.m. – Culinary Demonstration: Natalie Willingham, Chef de Cuisine, Disneyland Resort 6:30 p.m. – Culinary Demonstration: Brendan Collins, Chef, Birch
Sunday, April 10	12:30 p.m. – Culinary Demonstration: Daniella Malfitano, Chef & Author (presenting “The Kids Kitchen”) 2:30 p.m. – Culinary Demonstration: Barbie Flores, Private Chef & Cooking Instructor 4:30 p.m. – Culinary Demonstration: Downtown Disney Chef TBA 6:30 p.m. – Culinary Demonstration: Neal Fraser, Chef, Redbird

Lifestyle seminars

The former Mad T Party stage in the backlot was quickly converted for use during the Food & Wine Festival, and is now billed as the Lifestyle Stage. Photo by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix.

These seminars take place at the Lifestyle Stage (most recently home to the Mad T Party) in Hollywood Land. This venue has very limited seating (one row of benches), and no shade or cover over the viewing area.

Date	Event
Friday, April 8	1:30 p.m. – Lifestyle Seminar: Kitchen Inspiration – Daniella Malfitano 3:30 p.m. – Lifestyle Seminar: Backdoor Veggies – Mary Duffy 5:30 p.m. – Lifestyle Seminar: Water-Wise Landscaping – Steve Williams
Saturday, April 9	11:30 a.m. – Lifestyle Seminar: Disney Food Blog – AJ Wolfe & Heather Sievers
Sunday, April 10	11:30 a.m. – Lifestyle Seminar: Food & Fandom – The Recipes of Star Wars, Jenn Fujikawa 3:30 p.m. – Lifestyle Seminar: Kitchen Inspiration – Daniella Malfitano 5:30 p.m. – Lifestyle Seminar: Herbs for Everyone – Tom Farrell

Festival artists schedule

Artist Dave Avanzino is this weekend's featured artist at Off the Page in Disney California Adventure, and will release this limited edtion artwork at the event. Photo © Disney and Dave Avanzino Designs.

Disney will feature more than a dozen artists during the Food & Wine Festival, with several debuting new product commissioned just for this event. You can meet the artists and purchase their creations during scheduled events each weekend of the Festival.

In addition to these product releases, Disney is also featuring some of these artists on stage during the Food & Wine Festival. Visitors can watch the artists create new artwork at the Lifestyle Stage in Hollywood Land then meet them in person at Off the Page later in the day.

Here is the full schedule of artists and appearance times. Note that the Lifestyle Stage (most recently home to the Mad T Party) is a standing-only venue, with no seating.

Date	Event
Saturday, April 9	Off the Page – Artist Showcase: Dave Avanzino. 2–5 p.m. Lifestyle Stage – Performance by artist Craig Fraser. 3:30–4 p.m. Off the Page – Artist signing experience: Craig Fraser. 5–7 p.m.
Sunday, April 10	Off the Page – Artist Showcase: Dave Avanzino. 2–5 p.m. Lifestyle Stage – Performance by artist Craig Fraser. 1:30–2 p.m. Off the Page – Artist signing experience: Craig Fraser. 3–5 p.m.

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Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix

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