When I went to Disneyland in 2019 I fell in love with it and knew I had to bring my dudes back with me next time. I figured Corey’s birthday was the perfect opportunity to make the journey to the other coast and show him and our son Disneyland for the first time! We spent 4 nights and 3 and a half park days there bouncing around with our park hoppers and eating a lot of food.
Instead of going day by day like I did with my 2019 post from Disneyland, I am going to just go by destination instead to keep them all together.
Also before I get into this, I want to send a huuuuuge shoutout and thanks to my friend Lisa who runs Happiest Vegan on Earth who has an incredible list on her website with where to find vegan options all over Disneyland Resort.
Let’s start where the magic started:
Disneyland
Our first night we stopped at Royal Street Verandah after riding on Pirates of the Caribbean to grab one of my favorites from last year, the Vegetable Gumbo. This option is vegan as is and is in a sourdough bread bowl. If you want to kick it up a little, add some hot sauce. It’s perfect on a crisper evening.
Naturally we couldn’t go to Disneyland and not get a Dole Whip Float. Corey made sure to get his while we were passing by the Tiki juice Bar on our way out of Adventureland. This is the same as in Walt Disney World which makes it vegan as is. They do have some other vegan options at the Tropical Hideaway with raspberry and more.
Another Disneyland spot we wanted to hit was Rancho del Zocalo which is located in Frontierland. This was on our must try list because of the photos we’d seen. We got an order of the Cauliflower Tacos which are vegan as is, and we checked to make sure the beans didn’t contain lard.
This was a winner for us. While the tacos themselves weren’t overly flavorful, the rice and beans made up for it. We also grabbed a side of chips to go with our meal since we shared as we had a small lunch before that.
Which brings me to us doing the Walk in Walt’s Disneyland Footsteps tour we did. This was something we’ve wanted to do for a while, mostly because of the opportunity to see/go inside Walt’s apartment! The tour was great, if you’re a big Walt Disney/land nerd, you’ll already know a lot, but we did learn a few things. I bring this all up because with the tour we were provided lunch, which we were hoping to skip. We ended up with a salad for the tour, which I didn’t take a photo of. But they easily accommodated us with the salad (which was actually good) and a side of fruit for dessert. Anyway, here’s us in Walt’s apartment instead.
On our last full day we linked up with Lisa and got lunch together. I had to try the Ronto-Less Garden Wrap from Ronto Roasters in Galaxy’s Edge with her so I could be jealous of us not having it on the east coast. The wrap itself was really good, it’s kind of like a gyro meets a bahn mi meets a döner. The meat is Impossible and it is topped with lots of veggies and was super saucy. I hope we get it over here because it’s a great quick lunch. They handed me my wrap before I even had put my wallet away.
California Adventure
This is where we did most of our eating to be honest. Some of the most unique options are in this park, so we had to try them all.
Our first thing on the list to try here was over at Lucky Fortune Cookery which is in the Pacific Wharf area. Here they have the Vegan Bahn Mi! Oh man this was good. The “meat” is apparently from Before the Butcher according to Happiest Vegan on Earth and is seasoned with a sauce. The bread was super soft and the sandwich had a good heat because of the jalapeños. There was also a vegan mayo on the sandwich. The sandwich came with a cucumber salad that was also delicious and light.
The kids option (THEY HAD IT ON THE MENU!!!) is the same thing but without the jalapeños and a side of rice with steamed veggies. This is something I’m going to crave for a while.
Since I had loved Lamplight Lounge so much on my trip last year I had to make sure we went back. Lamplight is a table service restaurant in the Pixar Pier area, they don’t necessarily require an advanced reservation, but it does help speed things up.
Since I was there last year, the burger they have changed from Impossible to Beyond. So the burger didn’t leave us wanting more this time, it was just different. It tasted fine, but was nothing exciting. It was topped with vegan cheese and avocado on top of lettuce, onion, and tomato.
We got the vegan version of the nachos this time, and wow. They were super cheesy, loaded with sautéed vegetables, just piled with pico de gallo and jalapeños. These we will absolutely go back for.
We also went to brunch at Lamplight Lounge because of hearing so many great things. We opted to get the vegan as is Potato Flautas and the veganized Lamplight Chilaquiles (omit the egg, cheddar, queso, swap for vegan cheese and soyrizo).
The Potato Flautas were excellent and had a good heat to them. They were packed full of potatoes and had the soyrizo on the side/top. We absolutely will get these again if we have a chance.
I also really loved the Lamplight Chilaquiles. They stayed super crispy the whole time I was eating them and had a lot of flavor. I would have loved a sauce or something else on it to help cool them down a little (a vegan sour cream would be ideal). But these are 100% on my would get again list. We’ll be doing brunch again for sure next time.
For Finn here we were able to get the kids quesadilla vegan by swapping the cheese and omitting the egg.
We tried the Plant Based Philly Dog at Award Wieners in Hollywoodland. This was a win as well, the dog was a Field Roast hot dog, which are my favorites. I wish we had these dogs over here and not just Beyond Brats everywhere. The hot dog was topped with peppers, onions, and a vegan mustard-y crema. They also had these weird massive curly fries (film strip fries) that were amazing. I able to get just a plain dog here for Finn, but paid the price of the one with toppings.
At the Studio Catering Co. Truck in Hollywoodland we got the veganized Backlot Nachos. We were eager to try these, and they were so good we got them twice. The nachos are topped with soyrizo, vegan cheese, and a vegan crema. I miss them already.
Downtown Disney
We didn’t eat much here, but we did eat, was amazing.
I knew I would be heading back to Salt & Straw because I had been dreaming of it since last year. We actually ended up here twice. The first time we grabbed a pint of the Dandelion Chocolate Hazelnut Cookes & Cream to take back to the room to watch World of Color from our room. It was still just as good as I remembered.
We went again our last morning and I got a scoop of the Freckled Mint TCHO-colate Chip in a cone and Corey and Finn both got one of the specials for the month Sunflower Butter Cups. This place is a must try if you go to Disneyland.
We also went to Black Tap Burgers and Shakes after seeing Lisa post about a Vegan Nashville Hot Sandwich here. She warned us that it was going to be hot, the cashier warned us too. No one was lying. This was one of the spiciest things I’ve eaten in a long time, and I love heat. It was super crispy and absolutely delicious. The sandwich was actually a fried portobello which was awesome. We made a huge rookie mistake though and didn’t have our water with us and had to wash this down with some iced lattes (at least there was soy milk?).
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel
We stayed at Disney’s Grand Californian during our long weekend which has a ton of restaurants and bars. I specifically chose the resort due to its entrance into Disney’s California Adventure and general proximity to Disneyland. We were lucky enough to have this view in the mornings of the park.
We were on the hunt for food our first night and were managing to strike out all over our hotel. We finally went to Craftsman Bar and decided to ask about a pizza they had. Our server was super friendly and said one of her coworkers was vegan and went to ask him what we could have. He said nothing there, which we knew was not true. We ended up asking what we could modify and if she could ask a chef. This is just a lesson in knowing what questions to ask and who we/the server should talk to.
We ended up with the Forest Mushroom Pizza without cheese. It comes with a mushroom sauce, mushrooms, and a vegetarian sausage (which is actually Impossible meat). This was amazing and I would highly recommend if you’re a mushroom fan. Imagine a mushroom gravy pizza with more mushrooms and a super tasty crust. This is something I’d try to recreate at home!
For breakfast the first morning, we struck out again. We went to the quick service spot called Craftsman Grill. I was able to confirm that they had vegan/gluten free waffles and wanted to speak with a chef about any other options or modifications (they had avocado toast and other items on the menu). After waiting over 10 minutes for a chef to come out we gave up and ordered Finn his allergy waffles and saw they had some vegan Chia Parfaits in the grab and go case. This ended up being our breakfast each day that we didn’t have a table service.
Our last morning we did the character breakfast at the hotel, Storytellers Cafe. I honestly didn’t even look at the buffet here because I knew they made a vegan hash brown omelet for vegans and that was enough for me.
Our server was super knowledgable and helpful. He knew right away to offer us the hash brown omelet. We also got some vegan Mickey waffles. The omelet was weird, but in a good way. It required seasoning as it had none on it. It was full of various veggies, our server had asked if there was any we didn’t like to which we said no, and a ton of jalapeños (we learned that they love them in California and it’s okay because we do too). The one they made for Finn didn’t have any jalapeños. Having done all three resort character meals now, I would say this and Goofy’s Kitchen are my favorite. For food I would go here though.
We had an amazing time in Disneyland. My best friend and her fiance joined us for their first trip out there as well and we all had an amazing experience. We’re already talking about when we should go back again!
Again, huge thank you to Lisa for making it so easy to know where to look in Disneyland. Always remember to ask questions and double check that items are vegan as suppliers can change daily.
If you’re considering a trip to Disneyland, let me help! I offer concierge level travel planning, and you know you won’t be hungry! Get your no-obligation quote here.
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